


Zero Dark Heart

by Cohali



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Era, Fluff and Angst, Idiots in Love, M/M, Multi, Romance, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Some Humor, Swearing, falling for the first time, other sexual tags that are sure to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-14
Updated: 2014-11-24
Packaged: 2018-02-21 04:53:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 37,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2455454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cohali/pseuds/Cohali
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When headstrong Eren Jaeger thought he had his life all figured out, it briefly got turned upside down when he transformed into his Titan. He was suddenly feared by the people he'd sworn to protect. </p>
<p>Thrust upon the Survey Corps, Eren soon finds solace in his childhood hero, Levi.  Little did he know just how close they'd become. Can Eren and Levi find love when they least expect it? </p>
<p>Canon-verse. ish. Slowburn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, Cohali here, posting my first SnK fanfiction. Please bear with me, I haven't written anything in a very, very long time. In fact, I'm surprised I still could, I'm pretty sure my brain was gathering dust. Poor thing.
> 
> I have tried to keep this storyline close to canon, yet there will be gaps and timeline errors, I'm sure. I also want to point out that I do not own any rights to SnK, I only borrowed their characters. Lovingly.
> 
> Anyways, here we go!

* * *

  
  


It started with a heartbeat.

Not just any heartbeat, a heartbeat so loud it engulfed every fibre of his being. The noise infiltrated every sense, so loud his body was thrumming. He was vibrating, his fingertips tingled and every hair was at end. His throat strained as he tried to swallow, an uncomfortable weight sliding down into the pit of his stomach.

This tremendous energy had him gasping, but he could hear no sound, just the heartbeat. This heartbeat was the very core of his current existence. His eyes searched frantically, only to be met with darkness. A darkness he had never known, so disorientating he didn’t know if his eyes were open at all, it suffocated the air around him, dense as it swirled slowly leaving no light behind. He felt his body pulsing, as though sapping energy from the darkness, sapping to the metronome of this heartbeat.

His teeth grinded heavily against each other, muscles tensed and fists clenching on their own accord. A strange sound broke through the silence, it confused him and he narrowed his eyes at the sound, it disrupted the heartbeat, an unstable sound that had him on edge.

Again he looked around and saw nothing, the heartbeat picked up pace, he thought this energy was going to explode out of him, until he realized…

The sound was from him. 

He was _growling._

Through his clenched teeth came a feral sound so strange to his own ears that he thought it was a foreign entity. So rabid in nature his senses saw it as an immediate threat. He focused on trying to quell the sound, yet it appeared to aggravate it further, to the point where he was screaming at the top of his lungs. Ripped from this scream he could hear two different voices, his own and a much louder entity, so loud it rang that his ears felt violated and sore. It echoed through the expanse darkness, drowning out the heartbeat entirely.

His throat felt hoarse, yet he only gasped for breath then bellowed again. He couldn’t stop, and that is when he felt his ankles become constricted, he couldn’t see what was happening, but could feel something wrap tightly around his legs, snaking around his lithe body so quickly his heartbeat started hammering against his chest. 

_What was going on?_

Fear flooded through him yet the energy surging through his body overpowered the fear, he felt like he was drowning, it felt like vines were constricting him tightly, climbing higher and higher, encasing his body until it reached the neck. His throat continued to burn as he screamed, screamed and screamed, searching the darkness for clues. 

_Why?_

Why was this happening to me?

The vines pulsed around him, hot and burning to the skin. The heat set alight every nerve ending, scorching him until he thought he’d pass out. It stabbed at him, as though trying to meld itself to him; felt it puncture his skin, grab at his bones, connecting with him. His eyes widened as he realised that these were not vines, the ropy texture felt like muscles, layers and layers of muscles encasing him, connecting to him. Puncturing tanned skin were bones, wedging themselves in and expanding aggressively. 

The energy seemed to falter its erratic behaviour for a second, as though sensing the boy’s realisation, and he shut his eyes to it, no longer feeling much of anything. As the muscles crept up over his face, at a now leisurely pace, he allowed it. A sweet sense of calm swept the area, his heartbeat slowed, thumping regularly in his chest to the time of the deafening heartbeat. 

He slouched forward, feeling wetness to his cheek. Fluttering his eyelids he frowned, a new confusion swept across him, wondering why this sudden tear appeared to be rolling down his moistened cheek. 

_Oh_

That’s right.

His mind has accepted it, but his heart cannot. 

The boy’s heart and body seemed to be in denial, denial of this development. Where his mind had caved and bowed to defeat, the heart had wept for him, for his beliefs, for his soul, his future. He felt empty inside, hollowed out and scraped raw. The pain ebbed and flowed struggling against the raw energy surging through his veins.

He closed his eyes; there was no turning back now.

For he had become yet again what he hated most. If he were stronger, if he were what they needed him to be, then his mind and body would be in unison, rejoicing his triumphs. He felt his body shaking, giving in; giving in to the darkness, giving in to the energy, his knees weak, the muscles straining, pulling him down, into a hunched position, he gasped, feeling sadness pang against his chest.

Before his physical body was immobilised completely, he had one last thought that rang clearly through his mind.

_I’m sorry._

Sorry, Mikasa. Armin. Sorry that you have to see me this way again. 

His mind pictured their faces, shock, disappointment… Fear.

He let out one last shuddering breath before he came to a complete still. _This is it, let go._

Become the thing you despise the most in the world, in your existence. Become your Titan.

Become what you truly are. A monster.

_Let go._

The silence was deafening, the darkness complete. Nothing existed, nothing at all. 

Then, the heartbeat; growing in sound, vibrated so fiercely, so violently. The energy coursing around until the existence shattered, shattered the darkness, shattered the confusion and shattered anything that didn’t matter. It twisted into a sound. The sound of a roar that punctured the sky. Muscles convulsed and senses heightened. The ground felt itchy between his toes, a wind gushed around him, whipping his hair affray. A great steam billowed around him, and a heat so intense he felt the air crackle around him.

But it didn’t matter.

He could only feel one thing, one emotion running rampant to his core, one emotion that smothered any logical thought that dared to appear.

He was angry.

So infuriatingly irate that it felt animalistic. 

As he opened his eyes and surveyed the surroundings from his great height, he waited for his hazy vision to focus. To pinpoint what he was seeking.

Ah.

There.

_Titans._ The urge to kill and savagely rip apart these creatures was overwhelming; he had to expel his anger, and tilted his head back and bellowed at the sky. Something flittered past his vision, he turned his head as a tiny human landed on a rooftop near him. It was calling to him, shouting at him about a boulder. He was confused, confused and angry and frustrated that this human was in his way. He only wanted to kill, and this annoyance was a distraction. He gazed at the titans in the distance and took a step forward, clenching his fists. 

The human called to him again and on instinct he threw a punch to silence it. The human flitted away, a glimpse of red swinging to the next rooftop. A flare shot up a few houses down and was easily dismissed. He turned his attention back to the titans when his vision was suddenly blurred by a human body dangling from his hair. It was shouting at him but he couldn’t hear, the sounds muffled as his anger rose. He needed to kill, his clawed fingers twitched and clenched. 

This thing was getting in his way. Gritting his teeth, he threw another punch, but immobilised himself, falling hard to the ground. His jarred senses dulled to a strange vision of a table and a human cutting vegetables next to a sink swam into view. The sudden sound of rain pattered against a window, then everything blurred. The only thing he could feel was the rough grain of wood under his human fingertips and a hollowness that overwhelmed him again.

He was tired, so tired of these sensations. So confused and sad and angry…

Maybe he should stay here a while.

Just a little while…

* * *

  
  


 

Eren awoke with a start, he groaned as he sat up, fingers immediately sliding into his hair. He sucked in a few deep breathes, feeling the harsh air through his teeth. He felt the clammy heat cool on his skin and realised he had sweated through his clothes again.

His eyes adjusted to the dim lit room as his heartbeat returned to normal. He peeled his shirt away from his chest so it didn’t lay flush against his body as he heard a dull groan as the cell door opened. Furrowing his eyebrows he watched a figure passed through the threshold and into his cell. He pulled his legs out of the covers on his bed and pressed the pads of his feet to the cool stone floor.

His mind was hazy but could feel himself pulling into an alerted state. The sound of keys jangling made Eren pull focus to the new occupant. The Corporal was stood at the foot of his bed, impeccably dressed and observing Eren silently. In his hand he held the keys to Eren’s wrist restraints.

Eren lifted one wrist silently and noticed it shaking. He shook his arm out to steady himself and waited for The Corporal to release him.

When there was no immediate action, Eren peered up at The Corporal with a questioning look reflected in his green orbs.

Levi remained silent for a beat longer, calculating a response. He picked an imaginary piece of lint from his arm as he spoke,

“Another nightmare?”

Eren swallowed and immediately slid his gaze to his lap, his extended wrist drooping somewhat. He nodded silently, ashamed to have been caught. He didn’t deserve nightmares, especially since it was himself who was the nightmare material.

Levi clucked his tongue but took hold of Eren’s wrist to slide the key into the restraint lock. It clicked, echoing across the small windowless room, and the restraint fell to the bed will a dull thud.

Even though this was not the first time to be caught by his keeper having a nightmare, he still expected to be thoroughly questioned. Yet when Levi turned slightly on his heel, and beckoned Eren with a wave of his hand, Eren got to his feet obediently and started to follow, sighing silently in relief.

Levi halted at the threshold, tilting his chin so he was gazing over his shoulder.

Eren immediately stopped, unsure what to do.

“Do you plan to shower without the aid of soap?” A thin eyebrow quirked upright as Levi nodded his head to Eren’s small supply of hygiene products. Eren returned to grab his belongings, along with a fresh uniform that had been delivered the night before and walked to The Corporal again. This time Levi nodded and moved aside to let the boy through.

Before Eren had passed him entirely, Levi spoke quietly,

“Eren.”

Eren froze, but did not turn to look at the man, he waited, eyes trained on the wall in front of him.

“I would like you to meet me after breakfast; I have matters to discuss with you.”

Eren nodded and made his way down to the shower rooms, feeling that with every step he took, The Corporal’s eyes bored straight into his back. It was fine by Eren; he would feel more refreshed the next time he saw Levi.

* * *

  
  


 

The shower felt amazing to Eren, glad to be rid from the evidence of the night. His shoulders sagged, letting the cooling water rivulet down his back. He was nervous for this encounter with his keeper, how could he face him? He could hardly look him in the eye. It was nothing against The Corporal, if anything; it was because it was The Corporal that caused Eren to become knotted in the stomach.

This was Humanity’s Strongest, the one and only human in their existence that could culminate the Titans with efficiency and without hesitation. He was the only human that the public had to bow their heads to and admire. This trained veteran who countlessly placed his life on the line, no regrets. 

…and what was Eren?

A-a….

Eren bit his bottom lip roughly between aching teeth. He had once had a dream, so strong that he could hardly stand being still for any amount of time. 

Well, he still had that dream, but somehow, he felt foreign in his own skin every time he dared to compromise with himself about continuing with it. He had wanted to kill every Titan he could slide his blade into. After all, he had trained with the 104th Squad for so many years to become ready.

But now, he—well, he was worthless. He was dangerous, and the public had taken no time in expressing that. 

Eren rested his forehead against the cool stone wall of the shower cubicle as flashbacks from Trost bombarded his memories. He vaguely remembered overcoming enough willpower to move a giant boulder and seal the ruined section of the colossal wall, before passing out and being told he had been asleep for four days before thrown into a trial room.

He had remembered peering around that court room, soaking in all the faces of every single person, some strangers, some he had come to known. It was in that room and every day since then that he had realised the most frightening truth of all. Dread had filled his stomach, coiling uncomfortably, empowering every other sensation, even when The Corporal had beaten him down. He had hardly felt the beating; he could only focus on their faces, numb to everything else.

They feared him. They didn’t understand him…

He was no longer human in their eyes, he was an enemy, he was one of them. A titan.

A-a… _Monster._

The one thing he had vowed to humanity to destroy, to rid them from, and now every single pair of eyes saw him as one.

Since that day, Eren had withdrawn into himself. He became consciously aware of the way people viewed him. He couldn’t shut his mind off from continuously accusing others of thinking differently about him. His fellow comrades, his class that had trained with him, the newly appointed guards…

The only people who seemed genuinely unchanged were Armin and Mikasa, who stood unshakingly at his side, with perhaps that crazy scientist Hanji…

…and the only person he had encountered whose disposition on the subject he couldn’t grasp was The Corporal, his only childhood hero.

As Eren towelled himself dry, he wondered whether that was the reason he felt nervous around Humanity’s Strongest, the man stayed unwaveringly neutral to Eren, neither unkind nor particularly friendly with him. Despite this and despite the nerves, Eren often found the company of The Corporal welcoming on days.

When the whispers grew too loud, or when he felt death was but one decision away from the ever lurking council, being in the company of the veteran grounded him back to earth.

Eren pulled his trousers on; wiggling his hips into alignment as he quietly continued rationalizing just why The Corporal returned his calm.

Was it because the dark haired man brought a certain measure of safety? Not just safety from the public and in some measures the Council, but safety from himself. From what was lurking beneath the surface of his skin. Eren was in no doubt that if he turned into t-that thing, then Humanity’s Strongest would put him in his place without hesitation, probably before he had the chance to fully transform. Before he could damage or hurt a single comrade.

Carding his fingers through his damp hair, green orbs glanced over at the mirror briefly before his eyes slid away, instead gathering his belongings and preparing to leave the shower room.

The Corporal was his insurance, his last and only hope of seeing each new day begin as it came. Eren knew deep down he didn’t deserve this insurance, he was worthless to humanity now, but somehow, he wasn’t ready to die.

He guessed that last part showed what little human qualities he had left; it was a greedy wish after all. 

* * *

  
  


 

Levi was just finishing steeping his tea when he heard a knock against the grain of his door. Placing the accompanying spoon down on the saucer, he stood from his seat and made his way to the door. 

With a swift flick of the latch, the door opened and he peered out. Bright green eyes met his as he backed away a step, allowing entrance to his office with a half wave of his hand. A damp head moved passed him and came to a halt in the middle of the room. Levi examined the boy as he saluted him, fist curled to his chest and back rigid.

Levi sighed silently and moved back to his chair, crossing an ankle over a thigh and picking up the delicate handle of his cup.

“At ease Jaeger, no need for any of that here.”

The shifter relaxed somewhat and perched in the chair opposite Levi, the small coffee table separating them. While Levi sipped at his tea, he watched Eren glance around his office, it wasn’t the first time the boy had been in here, but his presence was rare enough that his curiosity took inventory each time he came.

The Corporal took his time to study Eren’s appearance. He didn’t think himself an unintelligent man, he took note of Eren’s form, from the hands placed together at his lap, to the slightly hunched shoulders, the thighs together and ankles touching.

Not to mention the lack of eye contact, that certainly had not gone unnoticed. 

Levi placed his cup back down on his saucer, turning the handle until it was at the correct angle of his liking. 

No, it didn’t take a genius to realise this boy was broken. 

Levi had seen many broken soldiers throughout the years, it wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence since they were at war, yet Eren struck him very differently. This soldier was not broken through external influences, he was shattered from within. He had downright crumbled from within his core. His beliefs thrown upside down and his very existence questioned of its worth.

Funny thing was, this boy and humanity itself had failed to see the potential of Eren’s circumstances. Only a handful of people had seen it.

On that day of Trost being captured again, Levi had arrived at the scene barely minutes before it had concluded. Yet what he saw changed his outlook for good. He had seen raw animalistic potential. This boy had carried the entirety of Humanity’s safety in the shape of a boulder on his shoulders. His colossal form had quelled the rage to kill, and, with a few hiccups along the way, had picked up that goddamn boulder. 

Levi had seen him slam it down, body steaming in efforts to repair his strains, eyes gleaming from the pure will to finish the task, to set aside his selfish desires to rip at flesh, and instead choose to protect.

He watched, perched on top of the wall, as the titan disintegrated, not yet fully capable of understanding how this turn of events had occurred and spotted the boy being cut from his restraints, completely unconscious and vulnerable.

Levi had scrutinized the soldiers who gaped at this boy’s success, already noting their eyes still shining from fear and he jumped down from his perch when the remaining titans started charging at the steaming carcass and small huddled rescue squad.

He remembered slaying the stray beasts before landing and asking what was even going on.

Levi already knew at that point, where humanity failed to.

This boy, with his multitude of raw power and unwavering hope…

This unconscious exhausted boy…

…was the answer to their existence, he was their only true chances of winning this eternal war…

This boy… 

“Sir?”

Levi blinked once and drew his attention to Eren, who had satiated his curiosity and was now staring at The Corporal’s cup.

Not directly at Levi himself, again he noted. Levi exhaled through his nose silently. The sun gleamed through the window casting his quarters in warm glows and extended shadows. He drew his arm up to rest on top of his chair as he quickly observed Eren’s demeanour. The boy’s bright eyes almost glowed, even when Levi couldn’t detect any particular emotion in his face. They seemed to have an intense glow to them as though a permanent reminder of this boy’s humanity. To Levi, this much was clear as day and to Levi, there was no doubt in his mind that Eren was human before anything else. He just needed some training, some control and a chance to harness this power that the people immediately concluded that he couldn’t, shouldn’t. 

That’s where Levi came into this.

He cleared his throat to gain Eren’s attention again, which earned the eyes studying the cup to now study his cravat. 

“Eren, you start training today.” 

The boy straightened up, eyes finally meeting Levi’s in round complete shock. They glistened with fear, yet, to Levi’s uncomfortable realisation, not fear of himself getting hurt, but fear of the beast within. Eren was not scared of what the Corps will do to him in the no doubt vigorous training, but he was scared of what he himself may do, what this beast may do if unleashed and free to run rampant. 

Eren feared himself.

Levi blinked slowly, tucking away this information in his head under ‘things to address later’, cross referencing with ‘things that I will fix’. 

“But--!” 

“Eren, the sooner we start this training, the sooner we can learn to control your Titan.”

Eren closed his mouth, searching The Corporal’s eyes momentarily before averting his gaze back to the cravat. He didn’t look convinced, and had taken to gnawing on his bottom lip.

Levi gazed at the messy brown head for a second, remaining still and letting the silence over take them. He could practically hear the thousands of protests coming from the youth, yet he knew at this time that he could say nothing to quell Eren’s worries. Actions spoke louder than words, Levi was a firm believer in that.

Eren felt the silence around him and knew the situation was inevitable, he nodded his head, before standing and crossing his arms into a salute again. Humanity’s strongest also stood, the top of his head coming up to Eren’s brow level. Eren rotated his foot, lining with the door, readying himself to make his exit, yet before he could shift his weight, The Corporal was already halting him.

“Eren, if you cannot trust in yourself, then, place it in my team, until you can learn to trust yourself again.”

He frowned, unable to stop the doubt in his mind. He didn’t know The Corporal’s team yet, he hardly had patience with himself since the incident in Trost, how could these people have patience with a freaking Titan running around their Castle grounds?

He watched Levi studying his face before it became too much and his eyes landed on the door, suddenly wishing he was on the other side of it. How on Earth was he going to survive any of this?

His hand reached the door handle, fingers clasping the cool metal, before Levi’s voice spoke once more.

“If you cannot trust my team, then trust me until you can. You start at noon, dismissed.”

Eren couldn’t help turning his head over his shoulder to look back at Corporal Levi. The compact man was sliding his fingers across his desk, attention drawn towards various reports and ink bottles. No doubt work that needed completing. Eren stared at his profile, watched the grey eyes flit back and forth on a paper file as his hand drew the report closer to where he stood. Eren took in his build, his toned thighs and strong shoulders before opening the door and stepping through.

Before he let the door close entirely, he replied,

“Yes sir.”

* * *

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, posting chapter two in quick succession of chapter one. This is only because I wanted more interaction between the two before giving it breathing space.
> 
> I also want to point out that I know jack all about horses, so some internet research was looked into regarding horse behaviour and equipment terminology. It may become abundantly clear that I know very little on how to maintain horses, but ye have now been warned :)
> 
> Anyhoo, please direct your eyes... somewhat south.

* * *

  
  


He had been tasked with mucking out the stables. Since Eren arrived here six days ago, he had been given a set of tasks daily only two days ago, after he convinced them that he had rested and recovered from his injuries, courtesy of Levi in the Courtroom. 

Even though Eren was a novice when it came to horses, he quickly found he enjoyed the work, being left alone for a few hours and keeping active. It gave him time to shift through his thoughts, or if he so choose, to completely block out his thoughts and just keep busy. 

This morning, Eren found himself thinking back on his time with The Corporal. Those words had struck a chord in him, yet of which he wasn’t sure.

Since arriving at the Corp’s, Eren had mostly kept to himself as much as he could. He had met a few members of Levi’s team, and a few others whose occupation he was unaware, yet Eren knew that those he had met had scrutinized him from head to toe. He knew why, obviously, felt it with every waking moment, but it was a hard thing to swallow when only last week he was viewed as a strong healthy soldier with a future of potential. 

Now, as he walked through the corridors, or carried his meal to a solitary table, or set to work with a chore that others had also been assigned to, he was met with various levels of precaution. Each one as uncomfortable as the other, and he hated it.

Some would furrow their eyebrows, watching his every move, others would shuffle their feet discreetly distancing themselves. Some he saw twitch their fingers, achingly wanting to feel if their swords were in safe reach. It hollowed him out, seeing all this. He couldn’t stand the stares they thought he couldn’t see. Didn’t they know he didn’t want this? He didn’t choose this? 

Eren knew that they had been gracious enough to try to act normal, but he could still see this plain as day. He ached for normalcy, he ached for someone just to talk to him without fear, with mutual respect, without hatred or being on edge.

Which is why when he felt himself hit rock bottom like this, he remembers being on that dusty couch right after he was hauled out of the courtroom. He remembers feeling completely empty and spaced out until he felt the motion of someone sinking down right beside him. He remembers pulling his tongue out of the space where his tooth had been, to look next to him at who had just made themselves at home on the same couch he was on. Corporal Levi had flung his arm over the back on the sofa, fingers landing close to the nape of his neck and had looked him straight in the eye as he casually crossed one leg over the other.

“Do you hate me, Eren?” he had said, face as neutral as ever, but eyes flitting across Eren’s face, searching for his own answers.

Eren reminisced being so surprised back then. After having walked out of a courtroom filled with different representatives of their nation and being judged upon whether he was worthy of living or being led to slaughter, he now had one of humanities most cherished soldiers, asking if he, of all people, hated him? 

He had already realised that The Corporal had set aside his own humanity to protect and save Eren’s. To beat the living shit out of Eren in that Courtroom of judgemental people who didn’t want to understand was to simply save Eren’s life. 

“No, I understand it was necessary.” 

Eren sighed as he piled up the big stack of old hay. He wiped the sweat from his brow as he clutched the pitchfork, preparing to start laying fresh hay. Truth be told, sometimes that memory was one of the only memories he could cling to, to prevent him sinking into a depression. Even if he was yet to find normalcy from within the Survey Corps, he unexpectedly had found it calming around Corporal Levi. He wasn’t sure why, he gathered it was that surprisingly, Levi was the only one who had yet to shrink away from him, the only one he could see no fear shining through his eyes. He felt no contempt when Levi addressed him.

If it wasn’t for the fact that he had been garnering hero worship for the stout man since late childhood, he would be sure to have looked him in the eyes more often. Yet, as it were, Eren felt so insignificant in the man’s presence that he found it hard to.

It was a fast path to hero worship when Eren had laid eyes on him years ago. The Corporal had ridden in on his horse through the gates, surrounded by his tired and tattered squad. The citizens had lined the road, some to welcome them back, some to scorn them for wasted taxes. Levi had looked slightly fatigued, yet compared to his crew, he seemed perfectly unharmed. The man had swung his leg off his mare, gracefully climbing down to the ground with a soft thud of his boots. Eren had pushed through the crowd to the front, as he had lost sight of the man due to his short stature. 

Eren remembered that he couldn’t tear his eyes away, The Corporal stood straight, every single one of his inches used to keep himself gracefully composed. Eren had studied his face, steel grey eyes scanning the crowd with a brief once over, and Eren remembered thinking that those eyes were perfectly designed. Concentrated and controlled, observing everything that Humanity’s strongest needed them to with efficiency and precision. Eren had glanced at the ink black locks, the contrasting undercut and the furrowed eyebrows. 

His eyes roamed the compact body, thinking that every limb was formed perfectly in every way. Taunt muscle compressed powerfully within this man who stood as the shortest adult in the crowd. However, even as a young teen, Eren had felt the powerful presence of Levi, even as he was being called out on over his comrades deaths. Eren had heard the stories of course, Lance Corporal Levi had proven himself time and time again as a deadly Titan killing machine, and in that moment, Eren believed every word. Yes, hero worship had bonked him on the head that day, and hadn’t left him since.

He was startled out of his memories when he felt a strong hand clamp onto his shoulder. He spun around, fingers loosening on the pitchfork and found Squad Leader Hanji peering down at him through her glasses.

“Mornin’ Eren!” She greeted, rocking back and forth on her heels as her hand fell from his shoulder. Eren had still to get used to her erratic behaviour, and found himself more often than not being peered at as though he were some sort of test subject. Funny enough, he guessed he wasn’t far from the truth. He would become her test subject very shortly. 

He straightened up, feeling his back click as he went to salute her. 

“Good morning, Squ-“ 

“Just Hanji, if you please!” 

Eren frowned, feeling out of place to address her in such away, “If you insist—“

“I do!” Hanji beamed down at him, giving Eren a hearty slap on the back before she started careening him towards the stable doors. Eren just about managed to balance the pitchfork against the wall before he was excitedly shoved through the doorframe. He guessed it was time for training, which made him feel suddenly as though he was being filled with ice cold water. 

Hanji had her palm flat up against his shoulder blades, steering him off to behind the paddocks and into the surrounding grassy fields. Eren could feel her palm with every step, feeling uncomfortable all the way. Hanji was the only other person, all bearing Levi, and of course, Commander Erwin, who didn’t look at Eren as though he was a threat. Although, Eren justified, the Commander was rarely seen by Eren, and Hanji preferred to look at him like he was a friendly monster, not a threatening one. Which again made Levi the only one in Eren’s books who he almost relied on.

As they made their way through a large group of thick trees, they soon found themselves on the other side, where the path opened up into larger rolling fields. The grass was unkempt, making their efforts to walk double as they had to lift their knees high.

In the distance, Eren saw a small group of green cloaks all gathered around two or three picnic benches. Hanji was guiding them towards the cloaks, the faces soon becoming clearer as they trekked.

“Eren, today is the start of your training, are you as excited as I am?” Hanji garbled on, barely containing her excitement and making them walk just that little more quickly. Eren felt as though his feet were turning to lead, dread swept through him in continuous waves.

He couldn’t do this. 

He felt his heels starting to dig into the dirt and the palm on his back increased in pressure through the swing of Hanji’s step. Soon they had come to an awkward stop, half a field away from the cloaks, whose heads turned inquisitively towards them.

“Squad lead—“

“Just Hanji.”

“Right. Um, I-.” He swallowed thickly, finding it hard to unjumble his thoughts as they were all battling to trip out of his mouth. Hanji’s palm slid up to his shoulder as she leaned down to him, curious eyes studying acutely. He blinked at her, mouth agape and stuttering nonsense.

She seemed to understand as her eyes became softer, her fingers patted his shoulder idly as she smiled, excitement momentarily controlled.

“Boy-o, do you see those soldiers over there.” She pointed towards the group, a strawberry blonde woman saw Hanji point, and in return raised her petite hand to wave back. “Those there are Levi’s elite team, hand selected. Unarguably the best of the best. They trust each other and their skills more than they trust any remaining family they may own. Now, I’m not one to really wax poetry, but Levi trusts them too, and he’s just added you to his squad, so you are now one of them.” Hanji straightened up and her other hand came up to meet his other shoulder, turning him away from the cloaks and towards herself.

Eren felt as her fingers tightened slightly and sensed that Hanji was desperately trying to make him understand.

“It will take time to earn their trust, and I’m sure they will have to earn yours, but don’t ever forget that we value life, and that means yours too. In fact— .” here she leaned in closer, pony tail falling messily over her shoulder and eyes gleaming, “—Yours more than anyone else’s now Eren, you’re special. There’s only one of you.”

Eren studied her eyes, it was hard not to seeing how close she was, he could see the resolve in her eyes. He could see everything she wanted to say, but couldn’t due to her scattered scientific thoughts. 

Hanji saw more to Eren than just a walking experiment. She saw and valued his life, yet she also saw how meaningful he was to the human race, even if they themselves did not. He could see that she wanted to work relentlessly until they had some answers, some proof of hope that humanity would not reach extinction. She would slave away day and night, forever more, to understand and resolve humanity’s problem. 

Eren felt an uncomfortable lump in his throat.

How could he argue with that? 

It was a hard thing to put yourself aside for the sake of others, when it really came down to it. Yet between Levi’s actions and Hanji’s resolve, Eren felt a shift within him. He had to try, the Survey Corp’s put everything on the line. Hell, they knew ridicule like the best of them. 

Eren remembered the sneers and angry shouts of the public every time they had returned to the gates empty handed.

While what Eren faced was probably more exhausting, and probably more emotionally damaging in the long run, he had to try. He owed them this much. He was alive because of them. 

Eren brought his hands up to grip at Hanji’s forearms, squeezing tight as he determinedly locked eyes with her. She looked a little surprised, but as soon as he nodded and his decision was clear, she was grinning ear to ear.

“Atta Boy, Eren!”

He nodded again, turning to face his new squad. He didn’t know what to expect, and his fears still wanted to swallow him whole, but he pushed them aside. Only through hard work and training would they ever find any results.

“Ready, boy-o?” Hanji asked, palm returning to between his shoulder blades.

Eren nodded a final time, already accepting the nickname, and took a step forward.

“Yeah.”

* * *

  
  


As it turned out, training had merely meant… well, training. After introductions were made to the group and Eren had names to faces, Hanji wasted no time in dropping that bombshell. Eren could have killed her once he was thrown into a vigorous morning of hand to hand combat, endurance tests, survival skills and 3DMG exercises. As he was running around the overgrown field for the 11th lap, thighs burning and chest heaving, he vaguely wondered when between Levi and Hanji they would have liked to have told him that he was definitely staying human today. 

Was it a test? Had he failed? Or did they just see that he wasn’t ready? 

Either way, as he started his 12th and final lap, he glanced at the group by the picnic benches as they huddled for discussion. They had been there since he started running, Erd and Oluo going over his combat skills, Petra his survival skills and Gunther discussing with Hanji his overall performance. 

As Eren slowed to a stop, he realised he should have seen this coming when The Corporal was nowhere to be found. They wouldn’t have tested his Titan shifting abilities without him, would they?

He walked slowly over to the benches, eyes seeking out some water to quench his thirst. 

“Good job today Eren.” Petra had greeted him, slipping into his hands a canteen of water. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she perched on the bench. Eren all but collapsed beside her, fumbling with the lid of his canteen as the discussion slowly quietened down.

“Well I should hope so, it was just basic endurance training, if he couldn’t show competency in that then God help us all.” Oluo chimed in, waving his hand dismissively. 

“Despite that fact,” Erd had stated calmly, “Eren is well adapt in all these areas, it states here that he ranked 5th overall in the 104th trainees’ squad, impressive.” He tapped this file in his hand, as though the paper lead to the evidence they were looking for this entire time. Eren frowned, wishing that they had realised that before he could no longer feel his legs.

It was mixed responses Eren found around the table, some members seemed willing to support Eren, whilst others felt only hard evidence would produce results and put their weariness at ease.

“You will need to go through at least a few more weeks of training, to get used to our style of team work, it’s no good to us if you know your shit, but not ours.” Oluo stated bluntly, looking over at Petra briefly. Petra just blanched, giving Oluo a disgusted look.

“If you are trying to act like Corporal Levi, you’re just making yourself look _stupi—.”_

“Okay! Time for lunch!” Hanji sing songed over their dispute, energetically pulling out their wrapped lunches.

Bemusedly, Eren accepted the lunch that was practically thrust upon him, looking around the table at the eccentric squad. Troubles momentarily forgotten, Eren grinned and unwrapped his bread. 

If these oddballs had found a home in the Survey Corps, then maybe he could too.

They ate sharing stories and learning a little about each other as birds flew overhead and the sun settled high in the sky. Eren’s legs ached but he could feel his strength returning with each passing minute. Erd and Gunther eventually strolled half a field away where they could be seen sparring and Hanji had taken to scribbling down notes on two different note pads in chicken scrawl handwriting. 

The wind carried sounds of hoofs approaching and Eren swivelled around on the bench to see Levi approaching with two mares, the ropes hanging loosely in his hands. Eren drunk deep from his canteen as he continued to watch The Corporal approach until the man was a few metres away. 

Levi’s eyes flickered over his surroundings before landing on Eren and remaining there. Eren felt his stomach flip, unsure as to why but placing it in the fact that Levi’s presence was unexpected in his books at this point. 

After a few beats of silence, Levi separated the reins and held one set out in front of him. Eren rose awkwardly and claimed the offered reins, watching as Levi turned to his right and took a few paces away from him. Levi glanced over his shoulder, noting that Eren had yet to move, and tilted his head to the side ever so slightly. 

“Coming?” 

Eren was quick to jump into action, giving an experimental tug to the reins, the horse following easily as he caught up to Levi. They started walking away from the squad, distancing themselves by two full length fields. Eren occasionally fumbled over some grass, or found his horse had come round the other side of him, surprising him when it breathed out heavily next to his ear. He caught Levi smirking at him the second time it had happened, and he had to huff out his own amusement.

“Do they always do this?” Eren enquired, leaning forward to peer at Levi from around the horse’s neck. He couldn’t help his smile as he saw Levi still smirking.

“She is testing you, seeing who really has the control.”

“Why didn’t she do it to you?” 

Levi raised an eyebrow, eyes lingering on Eren’s face. Eren rolled his eyes, still feeling amused. 

“Good point. So, how do I show her?” Eren suddenly felt much more eager to learn. It wasn’t everyday a soldier could say they received training from Humanity’s Strongest, even if it was only in horse riding. 

“You need them to know that you are assured in yourself.” Levi stated, posture relaxed and stroking the mare’s neck. “Horses are much like humans in this regard, you wouldn’t follow a bumbling fool, or a stranger that you don’t know.”

Eren’s eyes widened. Ah, clever. Levi had taken over Eren’s horse training as it was a trust building exercise. Eren knew without a doubt that Levi had seen how unsure Eren had become of his own existence, how his trust in others and in himself had crashed down around him. Eren lowered his eyes to the floor. Did he deserve to be wasting The Corporal’s time like this?

“Eyes to me, Eren.”

His eyes snapped back up, Levi was studying him, patiently and unwaveringly so.

“None of that anymore. I don’t care if you have to lie to yourself until you believe it, but leave that unease behind. What were you just thinking?”

He was taken back slightly, the tone, whilst not loud or threatening, had taken on an authorative quality. He found himself speaking before he had a chance to alter any of his words.

“I was just thinking that I am wasting your time, Sir.”

Levi furrowed an eyebrow, trying to make sense of it. “Are you suggesting that you are a waste of time? Or a waste of my time?”

Eren wasn’t sure, so he settled on “Both.”

Levi sighed, coming round his horse to take the reins off Eren, he lead the horses to the nearest tree, tethering them to a branch. He then approached Eren again, coming up to stand an arm length away.

He folded his arms across his chest and leaned his weight onto one hip. 

“Are you angry, Eren?”

Eren felt confusion wash over him, was he angry? Angry at what?

“Huh?” 

Levi just stated his comment again, elaborating. “Are you angry? You have a right to be, you know. It was only last week you were probably discussing dreams and future goals. Are you angry that it’s all been turned upside down?”

Eren was baffled; Levi continued on, Eren unsure if he’s ever heard him speak this much before.

“Show me. Show me how angry you are that people now look upon you with fear. Show me what you showed me in that cell under the courtroom. You told me you wanted to kill titans Eren, well I am beginning to question if those were really your intentions.”

Eren sucked in a breath, how could The Corporal even question that? Had Eren not shown him in that cell room his convictions? He had practically bellowed them at him, and now he is questioning them?! He felt his hands tightening into fists, nails bedded deep in his furled palms.

“You act as though you’ve had a personal vendetta against those titans since you were a child, and maybe you do, but I doubt you Jeager. You stand before me, unable to look me in the eye, unable to tame a horse--.”

Eren felt his teeth clenched and grinding, the words striking him deep, the words from his Corporal, the one man that he strived to be like since first laying eyes on him. “—Self-doubting yourself and wondering if you should just keel over and die. Do you give up so quickly, Eren? Does a mere obstacle such as becoming a titan really render you beaten?” Levi stepped forward at that, the pads of his fingers landing on Eren’s chest, before firmly shoving him backwards.

Eren stumbled; catching himself and feeling his muscles tighten, coiling in rage.

“I don’t need a soldier second guessing himself in my squad, either he is a fighter, or he’s titan food. Which is it to be Jeager?” Levi said, taking a swift step forward, looking at Eren through a neutral expression.

Eren’s skin was vibrating, the one and only thing Eren believed, his hatred for the titans, was being called into question. Had he really drowned in so much self-pity over what others thought of him that his principles were put on the back burner?

He was visibly shaking, head staring at the grass as Levi’s hand came to grip the front of his shirt. He felt the fist tighten in his shirt, when he heard Levi mutter on a quieter note,

“Will you not avenge your mother?”

Eren snapped, his forearm springing up so quick he hardly felt the impact it had on the Corporal’s arm as he was released, his own body weight returned for his own thighs to support. He barely registered the projectory of Levi’s arm being thrown away from the man’s body by his own force before he was grabbing back onto it again.

He only had time to hear Levi grunt before he was yanking the shorter male towards him, fist clenched and ready to strike.

His fist met air though as Levi had twisted his body up into the air, using the support of Eren’s grip on his arm to arch and land heavily onto Eren’s shoulders, Eren didn’t even have a second to grab Levi’s thighs before the man was throwing himself backwards, strong thighs gripping his head and ankles crossed under his arms to haul Eren skyward and backwards. 

Eren slammed to the ground, skidding away from Levi. He let out a feral growl before scrambling to his feet, Levi charging towards him. He blocked an attack to his head and then to his side, forced into defence as a flurry of blows tried to land. He ducked and swung a leg round under him, trying to halter Levi’s fast attacks, yet the man gracefully jumped over his leg. Eren pushed up from the ground, tucking his head in as he grabbed Levi’s waist whilst the man was in mid jump. 

He connected and all but threw Levi away from him. Levi landed on his feet, some distance between them and momentarily paused. Eren thought he had seen Levi smirk then, a lively glint in his eye before he was charging again.

Even through his anger, Eren could see the grace of Levi’s movements, each limb aligning as needed, each move resourceful and with purpose. He didn’t have time to admire it though, as he was soon again blocking high kicks to his face. He managed to grab Levi’s thigh strap, clawing it towards him for momentum to land a strike to his stomach, but Levi had manoeuvred out of his grip, using his knee to land a blow to Eren’s solar plexus. 

Eren flinched back, air knocked from his lungs, fingers grasping for anything before they gripped at Levi’s ankle mid-air. He managed to keep his balance long enough to right himself before throwing Levi’s leg away and throwing a blind punch. It missed, as he expected but gave him enough force to start his own flurry of attacks.

Eren’s rage was growing more and more and he flung knees and elbows, fists and feet at the other man. He had managed to push Levi back a few feet, but still had yet to connect a good attack. His breath was loud in his ear, and he saw Levi’s chest rise and fall slightly more than normal. 

He pushed these observations aside, dodging one punch and blocking the next. He felt a jab to his calf, making his knee buckle, and grabbed the nearest thing available to make sure he brought his opponent down with him. His fingers clasped around Levi’s cravat and all but yanked the man down.

Levi landed, knee to the side of Eren’s shoulder and head bowed low due to the restriction of his cravat. Eren had sprawled completely on his back, with Levi’s other knee jabbing painfully into his chest.

They had landed awkwardly, and Eren was left looking up into the face of his Corporal. Their breaths sounded loud to his ears, his body shaking from excursion. He still had Levi bent at an uncomfortable angle, and he let go of the cravat, allowing his hand to fall awkwardly down to his side.

Levi sat up, now that his neck had been released, and looked down at Eren, the glint in his eyes still lively. Eren looked up at him, not bothered by the weight of the other man but definitely taking note of his aching limbs. He had been hit many more times than he thought, the painful throbs only now he was detecting. 

There were a few more beats of silence, both men studying each other before Levi huffed out his amusement.

“If I had known you were such a grabber, Jaeger, I would have dressed down.”

Eren felt undignified by that response, but felt a complete wash of calm run through him. “Only your cravat, sir.”

Levi raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help the smirk tug at his lips. “Only my cravat? I had my thigh straps, arms, ankles… “

Eren couldn’t help it, he was laughing loud and clear as Levi rattled off his list of offended body parts. Levi trailed off, slightly surprised by the laughing boy beneath him. He wasn’t sure if Eren was laughing harder than normal seeing as Levi was restricting his chest, or if he had found what had transcended genuinely funny, but he found himself amused nonetheless. 

He let Eren’s laughter dwindle out, before he was left with a grinning soldier again, he was about to let him up before he felt fingers curl around his wrist, keeping him in place. He inquisitively looked down, green orbs wide and looking directly back at him.

“Thank you, sir.”

Levi furrowed an eyebrow, wanting clarification on what he was being thanked for. “For what?”

Even though Eren was flat on his back, Levi didn’t need to have the boy standing to see the shift of posture, the fire once again alight in his eyes. Yes, this had been more like the titan he had seen in Trost. He didn’t need Eren in his titan form to see that lively fighting spirit he had witnessed that day. He was now looking down at it right now. 

“For making me realise what a mess I was, and pulling me out of it.”

Levi hummed as he took to stand, brushing the dirt off his knees and extending his hand down to the boy below.

“You’re welcome Eren. Just remember, this is no waste of my time.”

Eren accepted the hand and was swiftly pulled to his feet. Levi had turned and started making his way over to the horses that had lost interested and had taken to grazing the grass around the tree. He untied the horses and offered Eren his set of reins yet again.

“Now how about that horse riding, hmm?” 

Eren nodded, feeling triple the amount of determination rolling through him now. He accepted the reins and started to listen to Levi’s tips on horse control. As he watched Levi demonstrate figure of eights and posture, he felt ten times lighter.

Eren knew he was dumb in a few areas of life, but to this he was wise. Corporal Levi had made a calculated risky move back there. He had noted Eren’s defeated nature and had taken to the challenge. Eren could have easily lost full control back there, body transforming into his titan, leaving Levi without 3DMG gear and a tethered horse. Yet Levi had held his ground, pushing at Eren’s more human side, wanting to seek out that fiery human determination. 

Eren didn’t blame Levi for calling out the things that he had, he didn’t even question how Levi knew of his mother in the first place. All he felt was gratitude that Levi had decided to become his pillar of support, even if it had meant a good angered sparring match. 

It wasn’t as though Eren had even landed any good hits apart from when he had managed to catch Levi round his middle to throw him back. Thinking back on it, Eren had landed no other note-worthy blows. However, he liked to think Levi had underestimated him, or even hoped that he had managed to impress Humanity’s Strongest in some way.

Either way, as he watched Levi talk about horse tack and gear maintenance, he truly felt like he had connected with the man, and thanked him silently right down to his sore bones.

* * *

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

The next few weeks consisted somewhat of a routine for Eren. 

He would wake to Levi letting him out of his cell, followed by hygiene then breakfast. He’d then set about his chores before Hanji would call for him to meet with the special operations squad. He trained hard with them, noticing that not only were his own skills improving, but his skills as a team member as well. 

He was beginning to see a change within Levi’s—no, _his_ squad now, they were starting to accept him as part of their dysfunctional family. While Hanji and Erd had accepted him quite easily from the get go, members like Oluo, Gunther and Petra and taken these extra few weeks to come round. He had seen Petra change her attitude towards him one night at dinner. 

Although she was friendly towards Eren from the start, she had always acted with a sense of space between them, Eren had realized this when he had sat down on the right side of Levi during their dinner last week.

He had caught the dining hall at its busiest time, and had weaved through crowds of Survey Corp’s members that he didn’t recognise. He ignored the customary stares and the way members would move out of his way, if even in a subtle nature, to find his squad near the back of the hall. 

Once where he would have lost his appetite over the loss of humanity that he would be feeling, he slumped down next to the Corporal to dig into his stew while it remained hot. Levi had said nothing when he had noticed Eren by his side, so Eren had ploughed right into his meal, feeling the hunger claw at his insides.

Oluo approached the table, seemingly annoyed that Eren had taken the last remaining spot. His eyes flickered around at the occupants, seeking the reason why there was lack of space today. Mike Zacharius had joined them, he was usually up in Erwin’s quarters during dinner, going over the upcoming events with Erwin as they ate. However today he was present, leaving no room for Oluo. The man stopped short of Eren’s chair, tapping the leg with a jolt of his boot. 

“Oi Kid, hop off to some other table, will ya?”

The others looked up from their meal, spoons various degrees from their mouths or bowls. Petra, who was seated opposite Eren, glanced at Levi, who continued with his meal unfazed. Eren was unsure what to do, there had never been a problem with seating arrangements before today. He felt uncomfortable at the thought of having to sit on another table with people who could barely tolerate his presence. No one seemed to be objecting to Oluo’s demands, and with one quick glance to his right at Levi, who had continued eating, he grabbed his bowl and went to stand.

“Don’t you dare move, Eren.” 

Eren halted, bowl clutched in his hand and spoon teetering towards the edge. He had barely heard Levi speak over the loud background noise from the other tables in the hall, yet he looked back once more to the Corporal, who looked like he had uttered nothing at all. Eren had definitely heard it though, and by the way Petra had looked sharply at the man, she had heard it too. He sat back down, placing his bowl onto the table once more. 

The other members looked like they hadn’t heard Levi, and was looking at Eren with mixed expressions, some seemed impressed that he had the balls to ignore Oluo’s request, he was the newest member, after all. Eren picked his spoon back up, set on continuing with his meal.

Oluo became a little flushed in the face, booting Eren’s chair leg once more. “Oi, shitty brat, did you not hear? I said scoot.”

“No.” Eren stated, eyes on his stew and determination kicking in. Levi was telling him to stand his ground, as an equal member of his squad. And Eren would do just that.

Oluo went to grab the back on his chair, with the purpose of pulling Eren away from the table, but Eren’s quick reflexes had him blocking his hand.

“I said no Oluo, if you want to sit so close to the Corporal, then I suggest his lap.”

Levi had looked at Eren then, and Eren had to wonder if he had crossed some line, before Hanji’s loud laughter rang across the table, she was slapping the wood whole heartedly as the other members joined in. Even Petra had to stifle a giggle behind her hand. Oluo took a look at Levi, as if to share a moment of outrage with such insubordination, yet Levi raised one shoulder, as though to shrug the matter off. Oluo had retreated to another table after that.

The laughter had died down to quiet guffaws and Petra had spoken up, “He was trying to pull another rubbish impression of the Corporal, after all.” Eren smiled at her then, feeling as though she was defending him. Hanji reached across Mike to pat Eren on the back, looking at him as though he was a national treasure. 

“Hooo, boy-o, I didn’t know you had it in ya, now that’s what I call some balls, right there!” Eren grinned at her, feeling camaraderie sweep through him.

Levi cleared his throat, and patted his mouth with a napkin.

“Yes, that may all be well and good, but I don’t see the appeal of Oluo on my lap, he’s not my type. Also, the oaf would crush me.”

The members of the table blinked, before Hanji was howling again. The squad joined in, rare a thing it was for the Corporal to humour them. Eren sagged in relief, glancing at Levi, who was sat back in his chair, relaxed, and then at Petra who was still chuckling away and smiling towards him, he smiled back then tucked into his stew once more.

Suddenly it tasted better than before.

After that incident, Petra had become much more approachable, Erd and Gunther showed new signs of respect and ease, and Oluo, well Oluo was the same as ever, which Eren didn’t mind, he could handle him now he believed.

That’s not to say it was all good news. Levi was a busy man after all, and Eren found his attention split many different ways. The more he grew at ease with the squad, the less he would see The Corporal throughout the days. Sure, Levi still let him out in the morning, briefly greeting him before retreating for breakfast. Eren still had him to himself for horse exercises, and on most occasions’ dinner in the evening found Levi in his company, but still Eren found long periods in the day without Levi, much to be expected. 

It was these points in the day that Eren found time lull. He kept up his best efforts whilst training and he always worked hard at his chores, but when it came time to watch the clearing after lunch, looking out for Levi and the two horses, Eren found it hard to contain his excitement. 

It was nearing that time now, as he wiped the sweat from his brow and leaned his elbows on the bench behind him. Hanji was trying hard to explain to him the extreme healing qualities of a titan in gross detail, but Eren had checked out.

He squinted at the clearing, ears straining for the tell-tale signs of hooves clomping on the earth. Today, Levi had explained that Eren was to actually ride his horse. After weeks of learning maintenance and gaining the horses trust, of grooming and having the horse walk calmly beside him, Levi had deemed him ready. 

He practically jumped up from the bench as soon as he saw movement through the clearing. He called a ‘cya!’ over his shoulder to Hanji, who realised her spotlight was stolen by the arrival of the Corporal. She waved him off, smirking as she watched him jog over to the short man.

Levi had spotted Eren and had slowed the horses to a stop, seeing no point in walking further into the field when they were just going to leave it anyways.

Eren came running at him full force, Levi could hear his stomping from miles off. He rolled his eyes as he waited for the exuberant teen. Once Eren arrived, skidding to a halt and jarring the horses a little, he bent over on his knees and sucked in gulps of air.

Levi shushed the animals and sighed. “Alright Eren, calm your horses.”

Eren peered up at Levi through his long lashes, “Did you just make a joke—.”

Levi tsked. “No. Let’s go.”

He heard Eren huff out a laugh as the teen reached over and took his horses reins from him. They walked in companionable silence through the two fields, much like they had done every day for the last few weeks. Levi had enjoyed this time of day, he didn’t question why, he just believed he enjoyed Eren’s company since the boy had gotten his spirit back. He was a quick learner, impatient round the edges but eager to please. 

In ways Eren reminded him of himself when he was just that touch younger. Their chosen field came to view as they walked on, their path had become easier to trek across due to their various trips, and they soon found themselves slowing to a stop. Eren patted his mare’s neck, cooing her and telling her that she had done a good job. Levi averted his eyes, unsure as to whether he wanted to laugh or point out that the horse had done jack shit except walk here.

“Are you ready to climb on?” He asked, rounding the horse’s front and keeping her still. Eren looked up at his horse, suddenly feeling as though she grew twice in height. “Uh, sure?” he offered, rubbing the back of his neck.

Levi came round to stand next to Eren, hand sliding into the animal’s mane gently. He knew this was awkward for any first time rider. He contemplated the situation, choosing to give Eren a boost up for his first try. He bumped shoulders with the boy, making him move slightly aside as Levi bent his knees, enveloping his hands together to make a step for Eren’s boot. 

“Put your foot on my hands, I’m going to boost you up.” He stated, waiting for Eren to move into action.

Eren looked down at his boots, then at Levi’s pristine hands, and frowned. “But my boots are dirty?” He offered, tactfully noting Levi’s partialness when it came to being clean. 

Levi looked up at Eren from his slightly bent position. “I’m sure I’ll survive.”

Eren couldn’t complain about that, he had respected Levi’s mannerisms first, and if the man said it was fine, then it was fine. At least he had the decency to state it at all. He brought his thigh up high, heel being cupped by Levi’s hands, and hopped a little into the air, feeling his weight suddenly propelled up a lot quicker than he had expected. 

He scrambled to grab onto the horse’s neck, but his other foot caught the backside of the animal in his momentum to swing his leg over. Eren felt his body lean much too fast to the other side and before it was too late, he was landing head first to the ground, sprawled and gazed. 

He felt, rather than saw the amusement radiating off the man before him, who had walked around to his side. His cheeks flushed hot as he groaned in embarrassment, wishing the ground swallowed him whole. Fuck, as if Humanity’s Strongest just saw him stack it off a horse, it was intolerable to even think! He brought his arms up to cover his eyes and tried his best to ignore the situation.

“Smooth, Jaeger.” Levi stated, eyes gleaming as he nudged his boot into Eren’s arm. Eren just groaned louder as he rolled onto his side, using an elbow to prop himself up.

“Did you do that on purpose, Corporal?” Eren asked as he suddenly remembered that he was propelled upward rather quickly.

Levi raised an eyebrow, the corner of his lips tugging up. “Guess I didn’t know my own strength.” 

Eren scrambled up, pointing an accusing finger towards the shorter man, eyes squinting in disbelief, “You’re titled _Humanity’s Strongest_ , as if you didn’t know your own strength!” 

Levi just adjusted his cravat then bent down, crossing his fingers into the foot hold again, “Shall we try this one more time?” 

They did. They spent a few hours out in the fields, long into the afternoon. Eventually Eren did get used to climbing atop of his horse, and by the end of the afternoon, he had learnt to make figure of eights, how to trot and was getting the hang of cantering. It was hard work, Levi was not a man to praise sloppy performance. 

They had only stopped twice for a drink of water, yet Eren didn’t care, he felt exhilarated after finally making some progress. After Levi had made another circle around him, inspecting his form, correcting him where needed, Eren felt his legs burning, every muscle supporting his weight. His butt even hurt, glutes getting a better work out than they had in a long time.

The sky was stained various hues of pinks and oranges over them, the bottom of the sun sitting low to the earth. Levi had noticed Eren’s form becoming sloppier and came to a halt.

“Tired?” He called, he could see the boy’s legs shaking from here.

Eren felt tired to his core, his brain had disengaged half hour ago, he stifled a yawn as he ran a hand through his windswept hair.

“Yeah, and my butt aches.” He answered, going to give his glutes a rub. His hand just touched his butt before his eyes widened, remembering just who he was addressing. He glanced over at Levi who had furrowed his eyebrows, an expression on his face Eren couldn’t recognise. Levi’s eyes were staring at Eren’s hand, which was placed on his sore cheek. Eren flushed red, heart giving a little skip as he realised what he had drawn the Corporal’s attention to.

He faltered, confused at the look on Levi’s face. It hadn’t changed much from usual per se, except his eyes held an intense focus, a look that nearly swallowed him and his aching ass whole. The masochist inside him had him giving his own ass an experimental squeeze just to see Levi’s reaction, feeling the deep ache set in his muscles. Much to his disappointment, Levi’s eyes lingered on only for a few moments more, before he found the man swinging his leg off his own horse and dropping to the ground. 

Eren sighed, unable to understand why he had done what he had done, or why he felt such strong disappointment coursing through him when he couldn’t hold the Corporal’s attention over it. He leant to sit back down properly on his horse, muscles screaming in protest at him for keeping himself up for so long. As he did so, he felt a nerve go in his right leg, having been pinched for too long. His whole leg started vibrating, knocking against the side of his horse as though it had a mind of its own.

“Fuck me,” He muttered, gasping in a breath as he gripped his leg.

He heard Levi sigh beside him, as though uttering two faux pas in his presence was pushing it. Eren gritted his teeth as his leg started shaking harder, making his horse fidget as though confused with his actions. Levi stilled Eren’s horse and gazed up at him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, taking in Eren’s hands desperately trying to still his leg. Eren gave him a bewildered look, thoroughly confused as to why his leg had a life of its own. He pressed down harder into his thigh, only causing more discomfort.

Levi ran a hand through his hair, understanding the situation. “Ah, you trapped a nerve from holding position for too long. Not sure you’re going to be able to walk on that leg properly until we have some salve and heat to it.”

“Is this common?” Eren asked, feeling the jolts going straight into his hipbones. 

“It can be for new riders, the unlucky ones anyway. You used a group of leg muscles your body probably didn’t even realise were there. That would also explain your aching ass.” Levi muttered, scratching his fingers along his undercut. 

Eren closed his eyes, desperately trying to rid the thought of Levi commenting on his ass in such close proximity. It was fine when he was ten feet away, now he was close enough to see Eren’s blush if it were to appear.

“Can you get down?” Enquired Levi, whose head came up just short of Eren’s saddle. Eren leaned over, looking down at the distance to the ground. It looked a much steeper drop in his predicament.

“I can try…” He offered, concentrating fully to try to stop his leg from continuously knocking into the horse’s side.

Levi blinked, face neutral as ever. “Well now I’m brimming just with confidence.” He smirked, instructing Eren to bring his leg over the horse so that he was sitting to the side. Eren did so, feeling wobbly at even the slightest pressure on his leg. Levi stood in front of him, hands snaking up either side of his legs to settle on his hips. Eren’s eyes widened dramatically as he felt the Corporal’s fingers brush his sides and his thumbs pressed firmly to his hip bones.

“Let’s get you down then.” Levi stated, pulling at his hips and Eren felt himself sliding off his horse with ease. He settled his hands on Levi’s shoulders, for lack of choice where else to put them. Levi gently released the pressure from Eren’s hips, allowing gravity to let Eren fall between his hands. 

Eren couldn’t help it, the way the Corporal’s hands slid up the length of his body felt very sensual, and he couldn’t restrain the hot squirming that had started low in his belly. His palms were still on Levi’s shoulders when his feet touched ground, Levi’s own hands now resting tucked up against Eren’s ribs. 

They were face to face and Eren had a moment to look into Levi’s own eyes, astounded at the depth of them, before his entire leg buckled beneath him, knee slamming ungracefully into the dirt.

Levi hoisted him up again, securing Eren’s arm around the back of his neck and across his shoulder. He gripped the reins of Eren’s horse, whistling his own horse over whilst his hand found purchase on Eren’s hip again. 

Eren felt hot under his collar, the last time he had this much contact with someone was when Armin and he had to share a bed as some fool had broken his bunk. Even then he had woken to a foot under his chin and blonde hair tickling his ankle. This contact felt intimate almost and what worried him was that he couldn’t bring himself to hate it. 

When the horse had reached Levi, he took those reins as well and tucked them into the same hand as the others, he then looked to his side at Eren and muttered, “Keep your weight off that leg and let’s go.”

Eren nodded, not trusting his voice as he limped along, supported heavily by Levi. His leg was growing hot at this point, hotter than any other part of his body, but he shrugged it off. They had a long walk back, and he couldn’t afford to notice every little issue with it at the moment.

The sun was casting long shadows at the edge of the trees now, the pinks and oranges turning to purples and different hues of murky blues. The sun was setting quickly and the warm breeze was turning cooler.

Eren often enjoyed these moments, albeit finding himself not quite in such an embarrassing situation up until this point. He usually felt tired, hungry and exhausted, but accomplished none the less. At this point of the day, Levi and he often fell into comfortable silence. On some occasions, Levi spun a tale or two, prompted by Eren’s curiosity, and Eren would learn just a little bit more on whom he had spent his childhood in awe of. 

Sometimes when he had asked just a little too much, Levi’s words would fade out, uncomfortable with answering. Eren didn’t resent him during those times, opting for a quick change of subject instead, Levi would oblige to the change of subject, picking up pace from where they left off. 

Eren had first been surprised at how talkative Levi could be, contrasting from the times where he chose long periods of speaking very little. Yet where at first he found it a little strange, Eren soon became accustomed to it, placing it down as part of Levi’s personality, and replacing it in his mind to the times where Corporal Levi had only been a hero seen from the back of a gathering on a crowded street.

He hadn’t known Levi back then, only the misconceived personality Eren had pegged onto him. It was easy back then to think he knew what Levi was about from a glance, yet now with each passing day, with Levi showing just a little bit more of his true self; Eren had to agree that he much preferred this Levi.

It felt a little private, this side of Levi, and Eren felt much privilege for it. He wondered how much of the public thought they really knew the man like he had once done. He wondered how privy people were to his odd need for cleanliness, or his resounding patience and often silent protectiveness of his comrades. He wondered if they knew of his quirky habit of holding his cup at a strange angle, or, as Eren had recently found out, that Levi thought himself a perfect height and anyone taller were freaking looming giants.

Eren grinned at that last thought, he had asked Levi if he then considered Eren a looming giant, and Levi had crossed his arms over his chest and called Eren borderline.

After adjusting his grip around Levi’s shoulder, Eren noted that they had already crossed one field. He felt Levi’s grip on his hip shift a little as Eren had readjusted them, and felt his skin tingle when Levi’s index finger brushed over his flesh. His shirt had shucked up slightly from having his arm raised as they walked and now he felt the occasional brush with every few strides. If Levi had noticed it, he hadn’t said anything and Eren was glad for the coming darkness to cool his hot skin.

As they made their way across the second field, Levi cleared his throat and slowed their pace down. 

“Eren, at the start of next week, we will begin exploring your titan form.” Levi had stated, voice quiet as there was no need for volume in the quiet fields. Eren felt his heart jump once before he felt nothing. His comrades trusted him, and he trusted them. Now he just had to learn to trust himself. He felt the beginnings of fierce determination grip at him, he didn’t want to let the Corporal down.

“Okay.” He said, feeling no need to elaborate that he understood. Levi glanced at him anyways, trying to gain a feel of his emotions as though they were written on his face. Eren didn’t particularly think his face was betraying him in anyways, he didn’t feel much of anything now apart for the desire to get the monster in him under control. 

Levi seemed satisfied by whatever he had found by looking at Eren, yet expanded his explanation anyways.

“We will proceed cautiously Eren, this is new ground to all of us. There will be a meeting before we start and Commander Erwin will be present. Hanji will have to explain each experiment to him before it is signed off for use.” 

Eren let Levi’s words sink in, they didn’t really have an effect on him, his mind just clinging to one thought. He wanted to voice it, but found he was finding it difficult.

“Just--.” He pushed through clenched teeth. When no more words came to him, he slid his eyes closed and sucked in a breath. Levi noticed Eren’s internal battle, mistaking his turmoil and choosing to speak for him.

“I won’t let them kill you Eren, I will be there for these sessions to keep everyone in check.”

Eren shook his head, coming to a complete stop and scrunching his eyes closed. Levi paused, patient as ever as he adjusted Eren’s arm back over his shoulder correctly from where it had slid down his arm.

“No, “ Eren finally muttered, voice so quiet Levi would have been hard pressed to hear it if they weren’t stood so close to begin with. Eren opened his eyes and turned his head to look down into the Corporal’s eyes. Levi saw spirit in those green eyes, full of chaos and fear and determination and life. When Eren looked like this at times, Levi found it hard to pay attention to anything else, the teen’s eyes held fighting spirit so intense at times, Levi wondered how Eren had ever lost that fire, but he was glad to have returned it to the boy.

“No,” Eren tried again, slightly louder and with tenacity. “Corporal, don’t let _me_ kill _anyone_. Mistake or not, please, don’t let me.” Levi frowned, he knew it was early days, and that they had a lot to learn about Eren and what happened during the shifting process, but Levi knew that Eren had returned to his senses for the mission in Trost. He had still been Eren in that bulk of flesh and bone.

“Is this about what happened with your sister, Mikasa—.” Levi had wondered aloud, however he was surprised to find his words cut off by Eren.

“Levi, _please._ ” 

Levi blanched, feeling at ends by the lack of title and the informal use of his name. He recovered quickly, deciding to let it slide if only for the desperation in Eren’s voice. He wanted to protect humanity, but he didn’t know if he could control himself. He was unsure whether humanity would need protecting from himself.

Levi knew Eren had come a long way in the few short weeks of being here, becoming more comfortable in his human side once more. Yet they had reached a plateau. Things were normal until they weren’t. In this case, they had yet to explore the sole reason as to why Eren was in the Survey Corp’s possession. The other side of Eren, in which he was still vastly freaked over. 

Levi gave Eren’s wrist a miniscule squeeze from where he was balancing it still across his shoulder.

“As long as I’m there, I can assure you that I will cut your limbs off and rip you out of the blasted thing before you can even think about farting in anyone’s direction.” 

Eren’s eyes softened at that, unsurprised by his Corporal’s choice of poetic words. Levi felt assured, he knew Eren would rather hear of his own limbs being sawed off than his comrades coming to great harm because of him. Eren sagged against Levi a little more, as though releasing a long low breath he had been holding. They carried on towards the castle, sky now blue hues mixed with inky black. 

The castle lights gleamed up ahead in the distance, throwing orange glows across the lawns that danced between the grass. Eren’s stomach growled noisily and he felt Levi bend his neck to peer at his rumbling gut.

“Smell the food from here, Jaeger?” He mused, giving a small huff of disbelief. Eren patted his stomach with his free hand, trying to calm the noises. 

“Can you blame me?” He asked, as they slightly picked up pace, Eren thought that he almost could smell the food, his mouth salivated at the thought. He heard Levi let out a small huff as he slowed to a stop. Eren jostled on the spot, not expecting to suddenly halt. He glanced at Levi quizzically, very much wondering why they had stopped so close to getting food. He could see the castle gates from here, and if he squinted, he could see the paddocks just inside them.

“Mmm…” Levi murmured, close to Eren’s ear. He felt the sensation jolt straight down his spine, and his attention was snapped back to the shorter man beside him.

“What?” Eren wondered, prompting Levi to speak.

“I wonder…” He started, eyes fixed on Eren’s face before travelling down to his leg. “I wonder just how long ago it has been since your leg was fully healed.” Eren blanched, noting that yes, his leg definitely was not vibrating, that yes, he was standing with his full weight on it at that moment in time, and yes, it had certainly returned to normal temperature.

Lastly, he noted, that yes, he still very much had his arm draped over Humanity’s Strongest as though it would have to start paying rent for its lodgings there. Minutely though, his mind threw back at him that Levi had stated this fact and had yet to remove Eren’s arm. He tossed that though aside as quick as it had come and slid his arm off from around his Corporal.

“Huh, I guess you’re right, who knows?” He tried, bending his knee as though testing its endurance. 

Levi felt the cool air brush along his now exposed neck, before turning his attention towards the castle. 

“Let’s eat before the locusts leave us with piss all.”

They lead their horses to the paddocks, handing them to the soldiers on patrol that covered the evening shifts when tired squads rolled in, too exhausted to care properly for their horses. A young soldier approached them, granting them a good evening before taking over the reins and leading the horses in to tend to them. Levi remained silent and Eren muttered his thanks before they lead their tired bodies inside in search for nourishment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, hope you enjoyed chapter 3, is anyone even reading this thing? Please let me know what you think, I'd love some feedback! :)
> 
> Cohali


	4. Chapter 4

Eren peered deep down into the darkness, so far down he couldn't even tell if he was looking at the bottom.

He was stood next to Hanji, who stared down with him as if her genius was an amazing wonderment even to her at times. Even Levi, who had to lean forward slightly peered down, eyes curiously taking in the sight, even if he was wearing a frown.

"I'm going down _there?_ " Eren questioned, eyes widening as Hanji noisily threw a rope ladder down, dust billowing upwards with the collision.

"Weeeellll…." Hanji considered in a mocking tone, guffawing at her own joke. She looked to Levi and Eren to see if their humour was on the same wavelength as hers.

It was not.

Eren swallowed thickly as he measured the situation. The three of them were poised over the lip on a wide well. The scouting legion had found it when they had first surveyed the area surrounding the castle. The well was old, dried up and dusty. They had dismissed it after having found no good use for it at the time, but now, as their hands left faint fingerprints in the dust, it was just what they needed.

Earlier that morning, the three of them found themselves in Erwin's quarters, both Eren and Levi quiet and listening, whilst Hanji and Erwin were in heated discussion. Eren had been too amazed at their analytical approach to the situation to really regard what they were saying.

Erwin, whilst having spent very little time in Eren's company, immediately gained his respect. The man had a fast mind, dizzying Eren as he turned and flipped Hanji's pitches until no corner of error was left unjudged.

Hanji had bounced back with every beat, as though thoroughly used to Erwin's relentless stream of enquiries and Eren had felt like he had developed whiplash from watching the both of them.

He was pretty sure by the time Erwin had nodded his agreements and dismissed them from his office, he was leaving the room more confused than when he had entered.

Levi had remained relatively quiet since the morning when he had come to let Eren out of his cell, Eren thought he looked slightly agitated, the furrow of his eyebrows more prominent on his features and occasionally he would adjust his cravat more than usual. Eren had decided to keep quiet as well, unsure as to why the Corporal was in this mood and not looking to make it worse.

He did wonder if it was because Levi had decided to step back from Eren, in case the worse were to happen today. If Levi distanced himself, then it would be easier to action things that would otherwise be questionable. Eren doubted that though, seeing as Levi seemed more a man to do whatever necessary to protect his comrades, regardless of what his opinion was on the matter.

Eren sighed blinking out of his memory, fingers gripping the stone of the well tightly for a second, before he turned to Hanji once more.

"Okay, so I'm going to go down to the bottom, you're going to pull the ladder up, I'm going to try and become a titan…and …" He let his statement trail off, hoping for Hanji to fill in the blanks of what comes next. He had followed that much, but after that he didn't know what was going on.

Hanji clasped her hands together and rocked back on her heels, suddenly looking at Eren as though he was a hunk of meat. Funnily, he didn't think that was far from the truth.

"Right! So, when you transform into your _titan,_ " She said the word titan with such adoration Eren couldn't help but feel his insides squirm, "your body will grow and become trapped by the confines of the well!" Hanji grinned, obviously unaware by Eren's discomfort.

Eren opened his mouth to start his tirade of questions, but Hanji continued on.

"Now, the reports I had back from the attack on Trost reports that you had turned into a fifteen metre class for the rampage, killing off approximately twenty three titans, the second sighting was you turning into an incomplete skeletal titan, approximately nine feet, and lastly, you returned to your fifteen metre class to carry the boulder."

Eren just nodded, having a feeling that Hanji wasn't done.

"This well is thirteen and a half metres deep, which is perfect for us as your head and neck will be poking out the top. Here, we can study you, take hair samples, see how you react, see if we can bring you to your senses, study your bloodlust, and identify who this is aimed at, and lastly," Here she waved her hand in Levi's direction, "Lastly, he can cut you out when we're done, if you cannot disengage yourself."

Levi gave Hanji a hard look, unfortunately not effective enough to deter her excitable mood. Eren wet his dry lips and looked past Hanji at the crew behind them. They had set up two large tents, obviously expecting to be out here in this field for the majority of the day.

The special operations had taken over one tent, whilst Hanji had selected a few other individuals to help monitor with her.

Eren knew exactly why both teams were out here, one to study as much as they could, and the other to jump in if shit hit the fan. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, Eren couldn't help but think it was a blatant flaunt at how much they didn't trust him.

But he couldn't argue, could he?

He had only just asked Levi two nights ago to do whatever was needed to ensure he didn't harm anyone. Eren could feel a multitude of emotions trying to bubble up under the surface of his skin. He fought hard to keep calm, he couldn't keep running from this, the sooner he could control his titan, the sooner he could sleep easier at night.

He wrapped his fingers around the rope and placed his foot on the lip of the well. Levi touched his elbow and murmured quietly next to him. "Remember what I promised you."

His hand was back to his own side before Eren could grasp if it had happened at all. Eren closed his eyes for a second, yes, he remembered, and he felt relieved that Levi had remembered and would honour it if needed.

Eren travelled down the ladder, watching where he put his feet before jumping the last two steps. His boots hit the ground with a soft thud, and he blinked rapidly trying to get used to the darkness. He watched as the ladder was pulled up and let his head fall back to squint up at Hanji, who was waving to catch his attention.

"You alright, boy-o?" She shouted down at him.

"As I'll ever be, I guess" He shouted back.

"Okay, you can start when you see the flare!"

Eren didn't bother answering, already knowing Hanji had left the top of the well. He studied his hand for a few quiet minutes before the sound of a flare made him jump. He looked up, seeing a line of green smoke cross his circle of light, then brought his hand up to his mouth.

This was it, time to start getting his life back on track.

Eren bit down on his hand, feeling his incisors pierce the soft flesh, and waited for the heat to come. He waited ten long, drawn out seconds, then blinked his eyes open.

What the fuck?

He spat the bloody taste out of his mouth, feeling the throb of pain in his hand. Why wasn't this working? He furrowed his eyebrows together in concentration, then repeated the process, biting down harder, feeling his hand spasm in pain. Blood dribbled down his chin.

Still, nothing happened.

He growled in frustration, and slumped down on his knees, staring at his bloodied hand. He brought it up to his mouth and grinded his teeth into it, ignoring now entirely the warmth of his blood trailing down his wrist.

"Eren, did you see the flare?" Hanji called out, she hadn't approached the well, but she sounded not too far from it.

Eren frowned, releasing his flesh from his teeth.

"Of course I did!"

"Then why aren't you transforming?!" Came her bellows from above.

"I'm fucking _trying!_ "

Hanji fell silent, and Eren could no longer feel his hand, it was numb and slightly tingling. He looked down at his knees, blood had splattered onto the tan material, he kept staring at it, fascinated as he watched the material absorb it, dark red spreading to make large lopsided circles.

He didn't know how long he had sat there, didn't know how much time had passed before the ladder was noisily making its way down and someone was approaching.

Soft boots landed next to him and he blinked out of it.

Levi was looking at him, expression neutral until he noticed Eren's hand.

"Why aren't you healing?" Levi asked, leaning down to grip Eren's elbow, tugging the boy up until he was standing.

"I-I can't transform…" Eren replied, ignoring Levi's question. Levi watched as a drop of blood dripped from Eren's pinky finger, falling and staining the ground. He had heard Eren's replies to Hanji's questioning, only being a few feet from Hanji at the time, and he had heard the frustration in Eren's voice.

He had told the crew to stay back after that, and fought Hanji to stay back just long enough for him to inspect the situation. This was turning into a troublesome day.

"Let's get you out of here, then. You stable enough to climb?" Levi asked, wondering just how much his day would improve if he had to carry Eren out of here.

"Yes." Eren had stated, already reaching for the ladder.

"Wait," Levi interrupted, gripping the rope, "If you go up there first, they'll shoot you." He stated, seeing no way to sugar coat the words. He started to climb, dismissing the sound of Eren's sigh.

They made their way up the ladder and towards the sunlight.

Eren rather wished he could stay in the well.

* * *

  
  


He watched the bandage as it was rolled around his hand multiple times. The blood had slowed and the bandages only had a few spots of red stubbornly coming through.

He'd been questioned, for an entire hour by Hanji, who seemed more apocalyptically happier than usual. Every so often she would mutter excited nonsense. The most Eren had made of it was that she 'loved puzzles' and had started calling herself 'The Detective Inspector'.

She had gone into painstaking detail about his experiences in Trost. He had to relive every single moment, and when they had exhausted that alley, they moved onto his recent dreams of the experience, seeing if they were more 'recollections' rather than 'dreams'.

Hanji had left him on a bench to share lunch with the special operations squad, needing time to go over her findings. She had taken her team into one of the large tents to discuss ideas. Eren glanced around and couldn't see Levi, so he resigned himself to stare at the table, the hot tea placed in front of him slowly letting off steam, as though to mock him.

"So we finally had something to win against these titans, and it turned out to be a dud." Oluo piped up suddenly, breaking the odd silence that had settled around the table.

Petra's head shot up, glaring at Oluo. "Oh for crying out loud Oluo, would you shut up? Have a little sensitivity, would you?"

Gunter cleared his throat, sitting up a little straighter, "Well, Petra, he isn't completely wrong here, it seems Eren is unpredictable and this does prove that we can't rely on him yet, but—."

Petra opened her mouth to defend Eren it seemed, but Gunter raised his hand to silence her, "— _But,_ I can't say I entirely mind. It isn't completely a bad idea if Eren can't turn into a titan, if anything it ensures his safety."

Petra closed her mouth, considering his words for a moment before nodding. "I think I agree, this would keep Eren alive, certainly." She said softly, peering at Eren with fond eyes.

Eren was surprised, he looked around the table as everyone nodded, even Oluo gave a little smirk in his direction, he felt slightly hopeful as he looked at everyone. They genuinely didn't seem to want him to get hurt or killed.

"But aren't I useless to you now?" He asked, feeling as though his one true purpose for being in the Survey Corps was suddenly snatched out from under him like a rug under his feet.

"You are part of our team Eren, you'll never be useless."

He was thankful to them, and suddenly felt protective of this band of unusual eccentrics. He wanted to swear to protect them, titan form or not.

In his new found convictions, he reached for his tea, bandaged hand clumsily hitting the spoon resting on the saucer and watched as it clattered off the table and landed on the grass.

He bent to pick it up, fingers curling around the handle.

And that was when things went to shit.

Billows and billows of smoke erupted around him, immediately obscuring his view. It felt hot to his skin before he felt himself being launched up off the ground, muscles and bone constricting around his arm. His knees pressed into thick ropey flesh, and his hand was caught, entirely buried.

He felt disorientated, he could hear shouts and the sounds of metal sliding from hilts. He glanced around frantically, hearing heavy footsteps surround him. The steam was taking it's time to clear, and he couldn't understand what had just happened.

He could see outlines of people now, grey silhouettes of his comrades with their weapons drawn. He didn't understand, he gripped at his wrist and tried tugging it.

"Stand _down!_ " Eren's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as he glanced behind him, seeing the back of Levi. His instruction had been so clear and Eren had never heard his voice so loud before.

The steam had cleared enough for him to see who was who, and it shocked him to realise that his comrades had been facing him with their weapons drawn. Petra, who had been looking at him with fondness in her eyes three minutes prior, now looked at him with intent to kill. She took a step towards Levi.

"Corporal, please, move away from him!"

Eren looked down, realising now he was perched on top of a mess of skeleton and muscle. He was atop of a ribcage, half coated in back muscles and one fully complete skinless arm was bent with elbow in the grass.

Oh.

"I said _stand down._ "

Levi wasn't looking at him, he was addressing his squad, each member gripping their weapons, face full of fear or anger. Eren had thought that first order was for him, he was about to explain that he didn't know how, didn't know why he had transformed, but he couldn't get a word in.

"What are you playing at, huh? No one permitted you to transform!" He heard one of them shout.

"What is your intent, Eren? Why did you transform?"

Their voices were angry, Eren looked at each of them, mouth working like a fish, unable to say anything.

Oluo took a step forward, blades rising. "Are you trying to kill us? Whose side are you on?"

Levi interrupted. "Stand down, that is an _order._ "

For some reason, Eren noticed that Levi hadn't even drawn his blades. He had his back to him, entirely defenceless again Eren or his squad. Eren couldn't even fathom it, he just stared at the wings of freedom on the Corporal's back, trying to clear his thoughts long enough to answer any one of the many questions being thrown at him.

"Are you with the titans? Are you trying to wipe humanity out?"

He couldn't think over all the shouting, he felt overwhelmed, heart hammering so hard in his ribcage that he was sure it would punch its way out of his chest.

Every single member was shouting at him.

"Would you all just _shut up_ for a sec?!" Eren shouted, surprised at himself momentarily. They did quieten down, but their blades remained raised.

Before Eren could start collecting his thoughts to explain, he heard a loud high pitched whine, followed by a redhead approaching him fast.

"Ereeeeeeeen! Look at you! Can I touch it? Please? Please?" Hanji had arrived, so full of energy and wonderment that Eren was back to stuttering. She reached out to touch the gigantic arm, fingers twitching from excitement.

Eren barely had time to say 'don't' before she was withdrawing her hand, little puffs of steam following her burnt fingers.

"Ayah! So hot!" She shouted, ignoring the team who was shouting at her to stop and back away from him.

Eren finally had enough time to remember that he had been told by Mikasa and Armin that they had watched him pull himself out of his first titan.

"That's it!" He said suddenly, ignoring the yelling going on around him as he pulled with all his might.

He ripped his arm from the back of the mass with so much force, he had flung himself backwards and landed in a heap next to Levi's boots.

He heard Hanji shouting her complaints as the hissing of steam filled his ears, but then she suddenly stopped her complaints and fell silent.

"Lower your weapons, I will not tell you again." Levi instructed, giving them one last long look, before turning his attention to Eren. He knelt on one knee and placed a hand on his shoulder.

He was about to inspect Eren for any injuries before Hanji butted in again.

"Eren!" she proclaimed. Everyone turned their attention to her and found her pointing up at the giant hand, which was slowly disintegrating. She noticed their puzzled looks so pointed closer until they all noticed the spoon gripped quite daintily between finger and thumb.

They all looked back at her, confused and she just grinned, hands on her hips.

"Eren, what was you thinking about when you transformed?"

* * *

  
  


Eren was dozing, his head lulled back against the couch as he dared to stretch his feet out a little further. His eyes felt entirely too heavy and immediately tried to close every time he attempted to open them. Eventually he gave up and let them slide shut, feeling his body sag deep into the cushions.

Hanji had whisked him off to her quarters, which to Eren was becoming a regular occurrence. She had grabbed a couple of books and jotters and set to work, asking Eren entirely random questions which he just answered on instinct.

His energy had been completely drained, emotionally and physically, and he just wanted to sleep and forget the day. Levi had remained out in the fields to talk with his squad. After that Eren didn't know where Levi went, but it had been at least three hours he had been stuck in this room with Hanji.

She had found a breakthrough, by the sounds of it, but Eren was too exhausted to care. This happened every time he had transformed, energy sapped from him until he could barely stand. True this seemed to have been only a partial transformation, but Eren pegged the rest of the exhaustion on the series of events that day.

The sun was setting low in the sky and the room had grown dark in its corners, he didn't know when the crazy scientist had lit candles, but the soft glows were dancing around the furniture.

He tuned out Hanji's muttering and scribbling and just listened to the clock on the wall. He didn't know how long he listened, but by the time there was a knock on the door, he wasn't awake to hear it.

Hanji pushed her glasses up her nose and watched the door open. Levi entered the room and let it click shut softly behind him. He looked a little drained, but nothing struck out of place that she could sense.

She watched him as he took index of the room, eyes ghosting over Eren more than once. She turned her head to hide her smile as she grabbed a note pad.

"Tell the squad off, didya?" She asked idly as a way of greeting. Levi came to stand next to her desk, arms folded and hip jutted ever so slightly to support his weight.

"Of course I didn't, they reacted as I expected them to, that's why I picked them, after all."

"Hmm," she nodded in agreement, expecting that outcome. It was more than likely Levi had told them to calm themselves and wait rationally for an answer. He wouldn't have left that squad scalded for what they had done, but he would have made sure that they at least realised that it was accidental on Eren's half.

Out of the peripheral of her vision, she saw Levi look over his shoulder at the sleeping boy on her couch again. She tried not to laugh, so instead flipped a few pages of her book. The silence filled the room and she was counting down the seconds until Levi asked about Ere…

"How's the kid?"

Oh god, she had to bite her lip hard on that one. Why on Earth people always say Levi was hard to read was beyond her, heck, she was having much easier time reading him than the thick volume laying open on her desk.

She decided it was time to pull out the ol' poker face and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him, "Kid? Really now? Is that how you see him?"

Levi frowned a little and shifted his weight to his other hip, he stared Hanji straight in the eye for a good long second.

"He's a kid in my eyes."

Hanji couldn't take it, she was blowing this shit wide open, "Well now, that's a lie and you know it. Scotch?"

She rose from her chair and bee lined straight for her cabinet. She plucked out two glasses and a canter full of dark golden scotch, turning to face him, she wiggled the bottle and glasses in her hand, completely letting Levi know that yes, she did call him out on this new development in his life, and yes, she would supply scotch for it.

Levi just stood there, both brows furrowed, staring at Hanji so hard she thought that if she were any mere person, she would have exploded. However, Levi just raised a hand to his head, fingers and thumb massaging his temple.

"Tch. Please."

Ohhh, interesting. Hanji had of course speculated these last few weeks, however no outward denial from Levi left her downright giddy. She poured two fingers worth of scotch into each glass and wandered back over to him. He hadn't stopped massaging his temples but did hold out his other hand to receive the glass.

Hanji smirked wickedly, not quite ready to give him his glass, "Why don't you take a seat."

The hand lowered from Levi's face to reveal an almost undignified glare from the man. He didn't look amused, knowing what Hanji was playing at. There was only one chair behind Hanji's desk, and one sofa, which was currently half occupied by Eren. She could almost hear Levi's deadpan expression saying 'ha, ha.'

Levi took the glass from her hand and downed the drink in one go. He passed it back to her and raised an eyebrow. She just took it in good grace and went to top the glass up again.

Thinking that she had better lay off him for a while, heavens knew not to push the man on any subject he wasn't comfortable with, especially not this very rare and unheard of one, she turned back to him, glass refilled and ready. He had moved and was now perched on the sofa, next to Eren. He sat a comfortable distance away, but she almost cracked that he had done it. Oh bravo, sir.

He took the glass again, completely ignoring the situation and decided to push on. He sat back and crossed his ankle over his knee. "So, did you discover anything useful, shitty glasses?"

Hanji had to grin, that nickname was saved only for when her antics reached a whole new level of nosiness or downright annoying. She guessed it was used just now due to both qualities. Probably a new personal record, she decided.

"Actually, yes. I am now ninety-eight percent certain that Eren must not only cause himself pain, but he must have a clear goal in mind before he can shift. This means that he cannot have uncertainties and he must be very clear in his objectives. I would like to have tested more but he's tuckered out." She said, flipping her hand in his direction as though Levi had forgotten he was there.

"Why does he get so exhausted?" He asked, weighing up how dangerous it would be for Eren to be so vulnerable after a fight.

Hanji sunk down into her chair, blowing her fringe out of her eyes, "Well, wouldn't you be if you created the intricacies of a human body three or four times bigger than your natural state? Just powering that thing must be strenuous…aaahhh, so many mysteries…." She trailed off, looking up at the ceiling and trying to imagine it.

"Then there's a possibility that he may be able to train at maintaining his energy so that he's stable when he disengages, much like training to use 3DMG" Levi stated, figuring out that much at least.

"Yes! Good! That is the conclusion I had come to as well." Hanji nodded, pleased that they had reached the same analysis.

"But it is still early days, we have yet to find out if Eren can truly control his titan and listen to commands, also to try and not kill us." She trailed off, as though slaughter was the least of her worries.

They sipped at their scotch, Levi sinking further down into the couch. He didn't often relax fully around company, usually too occupied with maintaining status, however, around Hanji and one or two nightcaps, he didn't give a crap about rank. He was only human after all, and as he sagged down into the cushions, he could feel the weight of the day on his shoulders.

Eren shifted and had brought his legs up to curl beside him, he head had slowly fallen until his head was resting on the arm of the couch, arm flopping down over the edge and fingers trailing on the floor.

Levi let his eyes trail to the boy, taking in his ruffled hair and slightly parted lips. He rolled his eyes back towards Hanji who was just grinning at him. He fought the urge to groan and roll his eyes at the ceiling, fucking nosy woman.

She had the dignity not to comment on it though, and Levi was grateful for that. He didn't know what was developing but he certainly wasn't going to have a heart to heart with her. He finished his drink and waited for another refill. Hanji certainly wasn't stingy in that department.

She filled his glass and they continued discussing what the training schedule should be. He let her go over her theories and inputted some of his own from time to time. She emphasized the fact that the next experiment due tomorrow would certainly see Eren in his titan form, now that they knew what he had to do. Levi also discussed if having the squad there was necessary, and they both agreed it was, as they had to get used to seeing him like that.

It wasn't until the candle wicks had burned quite low and Levi had lost count on how many refills he was on that he noticed Eren's legs strewn across his lap. He blinked heavily, trying to pinpoint the exact moment it had happened, but he couldn't recollect when.

He looked at Hanji, who just tilted her glass towards him, soft smile on her lips, "Just a kid, huh?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Denial isn't just a prick in the military police, y'know? xD
> 
> I want to point out that this is the last chapter that sticks closely to canon, the next chapter and others to follow will start showing where I wanted to take this story from the get go! So look out for the new developments !
> 
> Please comment if you like it so far! Also, also, do commenters like if I respond to your reviews? If so I will totally start doing that! I wasn't sure if you would like me to or not so thats why I haven't! Just let me know!
> 
> See you shortly with a new chapter!
> 
> Cohali


	5. Chapter 5

Eren awoke the next morning with sunlight hitting him directly in the eyes. He groaned and sat up on one elbow, feeling a giant kink in his neck. He blinked and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

A quiet sipping brought his attention to beside him, and he turned to see the Corporal sitting there next to him on Hanji’s sofa, tea cup and saucer in hand.

What had him flush red though was the fact that his legs were sprawled across the man’s lap, covered from sight by a Survey Corp’s cloak. He froze, somehow convinced that this wasn’t happening to him and that by not moving, Levi wouldn’t have even noticed.

A small part of his brain registered that as a stupidly dumb idea though, as clearly the man was awake and alert. Some dangerous side of Eren had himself wriggling his toes experimentally, digits brushing up against Levi’s outer thigh. 

He stilled his movements when he heard a sigh, he looked up at Levi and saw him now looking back, eyebrow raised in question. Eren’s eyes widened as he searched for something to say, with brain malfunctioning, he settled for the obvious,

“Er, morning?”

Levi took a sip of his tea, “Indeed, it is.”

Eren had a moment of clarity to sense just how awkward this was, eyes taking in the both of them on the sofa. He had just short of a thousand questions, but all were overridden by how nice this felt, even if he was just a fraction away from dying of embarrassment. 

“Um…” He tried.

“You fell asleep, I got here and talked with Hanji, had some drinks, ended up falling asleep here too. Now my back aches and I’ve got my own personal Eren blanket,” Levi rattled off, looking down into his cup, “Hm, not sure where the tea came from though, my guess is Hanji, which is welcoming.” 

They shared a look, Eren confused and Levi nonchalant. 

To be honest, Eren didn’t even know where to start, his toes had continued wriggling at some point through Levi’s explanation, and his thoughts had gone stray, “You’re warm.” He stated, feeling the heat of Levi’s thighs seep into his calf muscles.

They continued to look at each other, a slight tension in the air that couldn’t seem to be shaken, if either occupant were trying.

Levi opened his mouth to speak but was rudely interrupted by Hanji barging into her office, three breakfast bowls balanced precautiously in her hands. She grinned widely at the both of them as she thrusted a bowl each into their hands.

“Ah! Eren! Glad to see you awake!” She chimed, plonking down into her chair and digging right in. As soon as she had a mouthful, she pointed her spoon at him, “I take it you slept well?”

He immediately felt his cheeks heat, so opted for nodding and shovelling down his own food. Levi just scoffed at them both and continued sipping his tea. He would have no further part in Hanji’s game, although it was probably not helping that Eren had still not removed his legs.

He squinted his eyes just slightly at Hanji, who was looking between the two of them with a shit eating grin, he hoped she choked on her damn food. He felt Eren adjust his leg, ankle slightly digging into muscle, before settling again. 

He should probably do something about this. It wasn’t normal for officers and subordinates to be like this.

He just continued sipping his tea. 

Hanji launched into an explanation to Eren on what her final verdict was, and that they were planning on testing it today. Eren nodded along, agreeing with what was said and interjecting his own experiences to Hanji. Levi sat and watched the two of them, noting that Eren appeared to be in a better mood than he had anticipated. He had expected Eren to be in quite a low mood after yesterday’s events, but now he was watching Eren as he talked, eyes shining green and hands moving animatedly. 

He wasn’t sure why Eren was in a stable mood, perhaps it was because he had woken to the sun on his face and in good company, in a safe warm room instead of a dark chilly cell. Maybe it was because he wasn’t immediately killed yesterday, who knew. 

As the talk fizzled out and the three fell into companionable silence, thinking about the day ahead, Levi decided the reason didn’t matter, as long as they could find good progress today.

* * *

  
  


He had been slightly sheepish at first, stood in the field that morning with the squad around him. There was a slight awkwardness at the meet up, as though each member wasn’t sure who would speak first. The silence dragged on, Eren soon fidgeting under the pressure, sure he was about to melt into the grass just for some form of temporary escape.

He was seriously considering how to melt, before Petra gave in first and grabbed him into a hug. Face smooshed into her bosom, he somehow managed to hear what she was saying.

“Oh Eren, forgive us, please!”

The tension seemed to break for the group, and each member was letting out the breath they had been holding and soon they were muttering their apologies too.

Eren was baffled, shouldn’t he be the one apologising? If he had been more careful perhaps, he wouldn’t have had a face full of blades. 

“We hope you understand that it’s just instinct! We’ve been fighting titans for so long now—.”

“—And it’s like, you see one, and oh! Blade is drawn! How did that get there! Eh heheh…”

“Guys, I know, I understand, really…” Eren attempted, looking around the group a little dazed. He wasn’t sure if Levi had talked to them yesterday when he left with Hanji, but he was certain that they were genuinely sorry. “I would hope you’d act the same way if I were to get out of control too, it’s important that you stop me, but I will try my best to fight for you!” He said with as much determination as possible, he didn’t want them second guessing this sort of thing.

Petra released him and took a dainty step back, seemingly more comfortable now that the air was cleared. The guys saluted him before returning to the edges of their tent. Eren hovered around, noticing Hanji addressing her band of scientists, probably giving them the rundown of today’s schedule.

He made his way over to the edge of the well, perching on the brick and scanning the field. The tents, various equipment and the bustle of activity served well as a distraction for him, but he still couldn’t help taking inventory to see if Levi was around. After checking and deciding he couldn’t spot the man, he frowned, feeling a tiny bubble of anxiety.

He wasn’t sure what it was, but he usually found himself looking out for Levi these days, he decided it was because he was used to the other’s presence now, it was familiar to him, yet that didn’t explain why his stomach did small flips when he was around him on occasion. 

In fact, after the way he woke up this morning, his cheeks were down right toasty. He hoped the Corporal didn’t think he was taking liberties, even if it were in his sleep. Yet, if he was totally honest with himself, it had felt nice. He wanted to do it more often, whatever ‘it’ was. Being around him? Waking up to see him? Touching him? 

Eren frowned, eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he studied the grass caressing his boot. 

But what did it all mean? He’d never had those kind of thoughts before, so why now? Why with Levi? This was all too confusing…

He was heaved forward by a hearty slap to his shoulder blade,

“Let’s get this show on the road!”

Hanji had arrived, raring to go and containing her overwhelming excitement as much as usual. Which… was not at all. 

Eren rose to his feet, turning to Hanji who had the bundle of rope ladder in her hands, looking as though she’d rather just push him in to save time. She threw the ladder down the hole and Eren waited for the clattering to stop. 

She nodded at him and he took his cue to start descending. Feeling a sense of déjà vu as he hit the ground with a thud, he watched the ladder being pulled up as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark.

“Alright, on the flare, boy-o! Got that?” Hanji called, voice echoing off the dusty walls. 

“Yeah!” He responded, already mentally preparing himself with an objective in mind. This time, they will make progress, he was determined in that. He didn’t want to let them down anymore, they have to make progress today.

He waited patiently, watching dust motes lazily flutter across his vision where the slim amount of light could be seen.

He heard the flare before he saw it, and looked down at the hand that wasn’t bandaged. Thinking clearly in his mind that he wanted to transform, to make progress, he chanted it until it was the only thing he could hear. He screwed his eyes shut, and brought his hand up to his mouth. 

Then he took a bite.

The effect was immediate. He felt the heat first before the steam blurred his vision entirely. Then came the pain, the familiar feeling of tendrils gripping him and sprouting bones puncturing his flesh had him fall to his knees, he felt his mouth fall open as he stared up at the circle of light. He was silently screaming as he could see the billows of smoke shoot up through the hole, and out into the sky.

His vision began to darken, until he had no choice but to close his eyes, his mind became hazy, thoughts slipping from him like sand through a sieve. He tried to shake his head, to clear his thoughts, but soon he couldn’t.

His mind was overtaken by other thoughts, by anger, by urges he couldn’t control.

As the tendrils reached his face, he tilted his head back and bellowed.

* * *

  
  


The group waited patiently in front of the tents. There was a deathly silence that lingered around them, each pair of eyes studying the well. 

The flare shot through the sky, its trajectory leaving behind a line of fuzzy smoke, and then they waited.

The wind rustled the grass along the expanse of field, sun feeling hot against their skin as time ticked by.

Then, in the time it took them to blink, smoke shot up over the top of the well. In seconds the well had been surrounded in thick rolling waves. They could feel the heat of it where they stood, some with shock registering on their faces. By instinct, some took a step back, others shielded their eyes, and some, like the special operations squad, stood their ground, not moving an inch, studying closely, carefully.

They all remained silent, until a great echoing roar reached their ears. The roar punctuated the air, long drawn out and filled with rage. 

“WAHOOOOOOO!”

The band of scientists jumped as Hanji flailed up and down, almost unbearable in her glee. She started running towards the well, members from various teams yelling at her to stop, but she wouldn’t listen, she was on a mission and soon she was disappearing into the smoke.

Some people hesitated, but soon members were running after her, especially once seeing the special operations squad were hot on her heels. They gathered around the well, waiting for the smoke to clear and could hear and feel heavy breathing, matched with an underlining feral growl. It was disturbing, and it had some drawing their blades as a precaution.

“Oooh, Eren…… you’re beautiful….” Hanji cooed, the members behind her could see her frame backlit by a dark silhouette of the titan’s head. She was almost vibrating on the spot in happiness. 

The smoke was rising, and the group could see what Hanji was seeing. From the top of the well, Eren was now visible. Broad shoulders were crammed tightly by its circumference, wedged firmly and not leaving an inch of space to move his arms, which were trapped out of sight. His long locks of hair spilled down around him, partially covering his face and his eyes which were almost glowing.

They remained perfectly still, as if by instinct, and as they studied him, he was studying them. Every time he breathed was like a giant huffing sound and Hanji’s hair fluttered to and fro, ponytail whipping around behind her.

She extended her hand, too far back to actually touch him, yet so eager it wasn’t even a conscious decision. As soon as her hand started to raise, Eren’s eyes zoned in on her actions, a snarling noise began from the back of his throat, like a trapped wild animal giving warning.

Hanji was mesmerised, so very keen in her rare opportunity to be this close to a titan, that she took a step forward.

That was all it took. Eren had tried to reach her, teeth snapping together and hair flying wildly around his face. He didn’t even get close to her, the well restricting his movements enough that he couldn’t quite reach ground level, but that didn’t stop the special operations squad from grabbing her and pulling her back. 

That had started him off, Eren was now roaring at them, the noise so loud it had members covering their ears. He was thrashing wildly against his restraints, fruitless in his efforts yet terrifying.

Hanji was calling to him, even as she was lifted into the air by Gunter and being dragged back a few respectable feet.

“Eren!! Heeeey! That’s a magnificent roar you got there, buddy! 10 outta 10!” 

Gunter let her go but as soon as she went to take another step forward, his hand clamped down hard on her shoulder. He used force to get her to kneel, making sure she was relatively seated. She never took her eyes off him, fascinated to the point of stupidity.

Gunter leaned down next to her and shook her shoulder enough to gather her attention.

“Hanji, let him calm. He isn’t himself, can’t you see that?”

Her mouth was open, yet she nodded, finally sitting still long enough. The others came to kneel a respectful distance away from Eren, as though in mutual agreement. He had to have time to calm down, if that was even possible, they didn’t even know, and that is when testing truly began.

Levi sat perched in a branch midway up a tree, he raked his eyes over the situation, alert and tentative to the situation. Hanji knew he was around, best decided to stay out of sight yet close in case needed. They had decided this because if things became messy, it was Levi who would really piss Eren’s titan off. If this became a common occurrence, just the sight of Levi may become a trigger of anger for him, which they didn’t want or need. 

It was decided that if Eren needed to be cut out, then Levi should approach from behind, where the eyes couldn’t clock him doing it. It was a safety measure, however, it could be changed quickly depending on how the situation developed. Already, Levi’s fingers were twitching, annoyed that Hanji couldn’t keep her tendencies to herself.

He shouldn’t have expected any different, really.

Levi’s eyes took in the titan, he had seen him before, of course, but it was rare enough that the sight still held his interest, how could it not? He looked unique compared to the other titans. What really had him baffled, was that he could still see elements of Eren in this form. His brown hair, although wilder and longer, the green eyes that held such burning intensity it was hard to look away. He could sense the power in the way the muscles moved across his upper back and shoulders. If they could wield Eren in this form, then they could do some serious damage back at the titans.

However, as Eren continued to thrash in his anger, bellowing at the crowd gathered around him, he knew this would be no easy task.

He sighed, settling his weight down on the branch and waited along with the rest of the squad.

The sun trekked its curve along the sky, few hours passing leaving room for shadows to grow from the roots of the surrounding trees, creeping along the field slowly. The members at this point had unpacked and eaten their lunches, packing up the leftovers after they had finished. Hanji thought what a bizarre sight this must be, humans picnicking in the grass next to a titan. 

All the same, they had waited it out, and Eren had long stopped thrashing, returning to his heavy huffing and occasional growling. As a precaution, they had waited longer, until he grew silent and was back to studying them again, great green eyes flicking across each of their forms.

What a brilliant sight, she thought, as she watched Eren studying her again. She waved at him, and he just stared unblinkingly back at her.

She sat there as long as she could before she couldn’t take it anymore. She stood up, piquing the interest of Gunter, who began to rise as well before she held out a hand, letting him know that she wasn’t going to do anything stupid and began to walk a few metres closer.

The group watched her approach Eren, before she came to a stop a healthy distance away.

She brought her hands up to her mouth, cupping them to make sure she was heard, 

“Eren! Can you understand me?!” She shouted.

His eyes narrowed fractionally, but that was all the response she got for her efforts.

“If you understand me, blink three times!”

He just stared back at her, muscles tensing ever so slightly.

This carried on for ten minutes, Hanji shouting instructions and questions at him, and receiving no indication that Eren was in control. She brought her chin to her hand, resting it there as she thought. They needed to gather much more data, and having Eren in control of his titan was crucial. For if they couldn’t even achieve that, then the council would have Eren put down faster than a dinner stealing dog. 

She looked over her shoulder, “Special Ops!” She called, the members standing to attention immediately. They gathered around her and waited.

“How about we see if our boy-o here wants to actually kill us? We need to determine if he wants to eat us like a regular titan, or if he is feeling threatened and just wants to defend himself. It clearly isn’t Eren in there at the moment, but we must find out if he is acting like a regular titan, or a hybrid of them both.” She said reasonably, however the team looked at her as if she grew another head.

She just pushed her glassed up the bridge of her nose, “Well? What are you waiting for?”

Erd was the one who asked what everyone was thinking, “How?”

Hanji smiled wickedly, “Well, how we do things best of course! Use the 3DMG! There’s enough trees dotted around! Just swing around his head and see how he reacts, if he’s all teeth, then he wants to eat’cha! If he looks like he wants to pull his arms out, or wants to head butt you, then we got ourselves a defender!”

They didn’t look convinced.

“Oh for heavens sake! You call yourself Levi’s squad! Fine I’ll go myself” She huffed, releasing her 3DMG into the nearest bark of tree. Before they could utter a word to her, she was off, arching wide and circling around the back of Eren’s head. She zip lined in front of his vision, close enough to definitely have caught his attention. He just roared at her, force of breath so strong she felt uplifted for a faster arch around him.

When she circled the second attempt, closer this time, he snapped his jaws at her, craning his neck as far as it would allow. He was trying to yank his arms free, head rocking back and forth as if to wriggle out of his confines.

The crowd was shouting at her, after another attempt to bite her was a little too close for comfort and she came away with half a shredded cloak.

Hanji landed heavily to the ground and shrieked with laughter. “Oooh boy is he pissed!” She gleamed, turning to face an equally unhappy Special Ops squad.

She was taken aback by the looks on their faces, “What?” she questioned, suddenly confused.

“You could have gotten yourself killed! This isn’t a game, Hanji!” Gunter yelled, angered by her actions.

“Who said it was a game? We need this data, we need Eren in control and we must learn how—.”

“You don’t understand Hanji!”

“No, YOU don’t understand!” She had had enough, disbelief washing over her face. “Eren’s life is depending on this, and if you truly want to support him, then you’d help us figure out how to stop his titan from taking over his mental state! You all know he can do it, you’ve seen it with your own eyes!” Here, she patted her glasses with open palms in exaggerated movements, as though she was talking to children.

“If we don’t take risks, if we don’t _push_ ourselves and him, then you may as well start picking out the flowers for his fucking funeral!” She turned sharply, eyes looking up high into a tall tree, giving a hand signal before she stormed off to her tent. 

Gunter looked deflated, and hung his head low as though her words had hit deep.

He didn’t have long to mull over the words though until the sound of steam hissing reached his ears. He looked up quick enough to see the Corporal arching through the air at such speed he looked like a spinning top. The sound of steam was coming from Eren, where it was escaping from him severed neck.

The titan slumped forward, chin resting against chest, as Levi arched round and came to land easily on its shoulder. Here, he bent down and hooked his hands under Eren’s lithe human body, before heaving the boy free. Gunter could hear the sound of ripping muscles from his spot on the ground and soon saw Levi fully disengage Eren from his Titan. He adjusted him in his grip, one arm around his shoulders and the other arm under his knees.

From Gunter’s spot on the ground, he could see Eren was entirely unconscious, head lulling back, neck completely exposed and limbs dead weight for the Corporal to support. He looked in bad shape, like he wouldn’t wake up for days and Gunter felt a pang of guilt for what this boy had to go through. 

Levi used the decomposing titan to anchor his 3DMG into, before he jumped lightly off the shoulder and descended to the ground. Eren was tucked close up to his body, Levi managing to adjust his head so it rest against the crook of his shoulder now. He walked up to his squad and came to a stop.

The team looked down at their unconscious comrade, who radiated heat from his skin that even they could feel.

“Sir? He’s burning up, he must be burning you!” Petra said, concerned for the both of them.

“I’ll be fine,” Levi answered, dismissing it easily, “I am going to check Eren over in the tent. You can pack up for today and go. I’ll talk to Hanji. Dismissed.” He stated, already turning to leave.

As Levi headed towards the tent that Hanji occupied, he couldn’t help but look down at the boy cradled in his arms. This really took it out of Eren and Levi wondered how much this boy had in him to give. No one could comprehend what Eren was going through.

He entered into the dim lit tent, shoulders sagging and already knowing that they would possibly have to go through this situation countless more times.

* * *

  
  


Eren woke up forty two hours later.

He cradled his head and sat up in what appeared to be a double bed with a comfier mattress than what he was used to. Taking in his surroundings and noting that he hadn’t seen this room before, he felt disorientated and sluggish and immediately gave up on trying to know whose room he was occupying. 

On his bedside table there laid a notepad and pen, open on the last page to be written in. He leaned over, curious on what had been scribbled down and read the last few lines.

“ _Hour 38 – Has been completely healed physically now for 37 hours, titan healing power activates with immediate effect. However, still unconscious, mental state of mind unaffected by healing abilities? It appears this technique cannot heal fatigue. Vitals stable, pupils dilate naturally._ ”

Eren’s eyes skimmed over the last few hours, the page filled with hourly reports, like a log book of data. He almost huffed out a laugh, Hanji was still taking data from him even if he wasn’t awake for it.

He tried to recall even an ounce of what had happened, yet the last thing he remembered was biting into his hand, down in the well.

He looked down to the last logged hour.

“ _Hour 41 – Had shifted position since hour 40 log, first time to move independently since unconsciousness, called out in his sleep, couldn’t make it out. Took temperature, showing levels of normal temperature for Eren, which is higher than average humans, see reference data sheet 12FG. Pupils still dilate to light source. Called out again, this time heard it clearly. Called for Levi._ ”

Eren’s eyes widened as he leaned back up, back ramrod straight as he slapped a hand across his mouth. His mind kept replaying the words over and over, as though taking great amusement in his humiliation.

Called for Levi. Called for Levi, Calledfor _Levi_ , Called _forLeviCalledforLevi, Levi, LEVI_ —

“UGH!” Eren moaned loudly and flumped back down into the pillow, arm hiding his eyes from the world as though he could block it out. Just what was that? He honestly felt like punching himself in the face just to become unconscious again.

Hanji had heard him call for Levi in his sleep? She had even written it down and left the book open on his desk for the world to see! Had Levi read this? _Jeez_ , he cringed so hard into his arm, cheeks burning hot and utter dread filling him. Just how embarrassing, how was he ever going to live this down?

“Just…. Fuck it.” 

That had felt oddly satisfying, Eren felt his hands ball up into fists and he slammed one down into the mattress. Yeah, that had felt good. He tried it again,

“Fucking…. Fuckity fuck balls!”

He slammed his heels down into the mattress, gaining momentum until he was a flailing mess of childish anger, arms and elbows, heels and thighs kicking and pummelling the mattress as he threw his head back and forth, colourful language spilling from his lips.

“Jesus fucking shitty ball licking wanking _TITFUCK!!_ ” 

In his anger, he hadn’t seen the door open. He hadn’t seen Levi pause in the threshold, taking in the amusing childish tantrum and settling for leaning his shoulder on the frame, crossing a foot over an ankle.

Levi watched the flailing mass of limbs, eyebrow quirked at the creative curses flying from Eren’s mouth. When the boy had finished and was breathing heavily trying to catch his breath, Levi cleared his throat and watched as Eren physically jumped in surprise.

“Well, that’s not usually how I say hello, but I’ll take it.”

Eren saw who it was and instantly groaned as his cheeks became scarlet, his whole body became like fluid as he collapsed back on the bed, taking his pillow and smothering his face from view.

Levi had come to his room, intent on checking up on an unconscious boy, but as he watched Eren desperately try to mould with the mattress, toes even curling in humiliation, he couldn’t help but feel a wave of relief wash over him. 

_Oh_ , and a hell of a lot of amusement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, and that's chapter 5! Here hopefully you can see how it is starting to drift away from canonverse, I mean, it will still follow it, but a lot more of 'inbetween times' are now at play :)
> 
> I absolutely love the comments by the way, it really keeps me writing, and I hope the updates aren't too long? Last two chapters roughly have a week between them? Please keep reviewing, I love your support!
> 
> Cohali x


	6. Chapter 6

They were all frustrated.

It had been three long, _long_ weeks since they had started experimenting with Eren’s titan form. At first they kept optimistic, they knew it was going to take a while. Hell, they were prepared for that, but as the weeks ticked by, the squads soon found themselves loosing hope with it all.

Eren had showed zero progress.

They were perhaps on their twelfth try, sitting out in the fields with the suns on their faces, watching Eren’s form, packed tightly into the well, growling furiously at them if they dared to even blink in his direction.

Hanji had tried numerous different approaches, much to the chagrin of the members surrounding her. She had tried talking to him for hours on end, seeing if certain trigger words created a response, she had tried threatening him, using Mikasa and Armin’s names, bluffing her way through words of killing them, or even talking about his mother. Yet he acted the same, intense green eyes studying her.

Soon, she had other members calling to him, on one occasion, she even asked Erwin to visit the fields, seeing if his commanding tones struck deep into the boy buried in flesh, trying to coax out the subordinate side of him which Eren was sure to uphold if he could be reached.

The only upside of it all so far was that Hanji had noted it was taking less time for Eren to regain consciousness each try. Soon, he was recovering after approximately sixteen hours, which gave them more tries and less time waiting in between fails.

The downside of it all, well, one of many, was that the council was surely going to ask for reports soon, and they had very little to give them. 

Hanji had upped her game, soon having squads fly around Eren, becoming more comfortable with each try. She had them tug his hair, drag shallow flesh wounds into him, buzz around him like annoying flies until he was almost hollering himself hoarse, voice cracking and splitting their ears.

After that day, Levi had serious words with her, spent long hours in her office reprimanding her on how their purpose was not to anger him further, yet to bring him to his senses. She had rebutted with the fact that they had to try all avenues, especially since very little was working on him and pain had to be tested whether he liked it or not.

Levi had left the office with a rare flare of true anger, slamming the door shut behind him and not being able to be found the next day. They continued on like normal when it came to test Eren again the day after.

As for Eren himself, he was feeling incredibly downhearted. He was frustrated with himself. He had told Hanji, who constantly questioned him, that he could tell when he lost control. He informed her that it felt like a struggle to cling to his thoughts, it felt like darkness tugged his thoughts out from under him, until anger replaced it.

Whilst Hanji found this all incredibly fascinating, Eren found himself constantly looking at her office door, wishing to escape to his cell, head buried in shame.

He just didn’t get it. Why had it been so easy before?

Well, he thought, even that wasn’t entirely true. It had been left up to Armin to kick his ass into gear. Armin had been the one to succeed where no one else could, but that had been at a cost. They had been stranded in the middle of battle, took far too long to be sat there vulnerable to any threat. It was an extraordinary set of circumstances that had worked in their favour. 

Armin had only been able to sit close to Eren because his titan form had been rendered unconscious. Eren had heard him as the blonde sat perched on his neck. Eren had also definitely felt the blade pierce through his arm when Armin failed to talk him to his senses.

Eren sighed, feeling completely defeated with the situation. 

Ever since Eren started showing signs of frustration in himself, Levi had booted him in the ass and told him they were going to start daily sparring sessions in between titan experiments.

Eren had questioned him as to why, in which Levi had stated he wanted to blow off some steam. Eren had accepted it after that, silently thanking the man for the excuse to let off his own anger. He knew it wasn’t for Levi himself to let off steam, it was entirely for Eren’s benefit, but the fact that Levi had pegged it on himself to vent anger, had Eren very much grateful. 

Every time he had to see the frustration laced in other Survey Corp’s members faces, every time he had to hear the sigh of annoyance that some of them would have to spend another wasted afternoon in the sun, waiting for nothing to happen, Eren collected the hate and then vented it out when he sparred with Levi.

At first he was quite coy in his fights, he knew he was good at sparring, it was what gained him 5th place in the final ranking of 104th squad. He ranked top of his class for sparring alone, yet when he first stepped into their small clearing in the forest, looking across at Levi’s shorter frame, he hesitated.

That was the last time he thought about going easy on Levi. The man had him floored more times than he could count. He remembered their very first fight back in the forest when he had started learning to ride horses and now suspected that Levi had totally held back on him.

When he returned the next day, various bruises healed, he went at Levi with much more tenacity. 

Levi was fast, and Eren could tell he was holding back less and less as their matches continued. His eyes had to continually adjust to new speeds just to track the man, who was jumping and flitting around him, bopping him on the head here and there. Eren grew frustrated after the fifth back hand to the head and swivelled and grabbed for anything. His fingers miraculously found an upper thigh strap, and they clenched around it, tugging so fiercely Levi rammed back into him. 

They both kept upright, barely, with Levi facing away from Eren and Eren’s fingers still twisted around his strap, the back of his knuckles were brushing against soft flesh, and to his horror, found his hand dangerously close to the Corporal’s ass. His mouth fell open in horror and his eyes flitted up to find Levi looking over his shoulder with a deadpanned expression.

He tried to talk, he really did, but ended up impersonating a fish, mouth opening and closing stupidly.

Levi had stilled completely, studying Eren’s blubbering confused face openly. To his credit, he hadn’t cut his hand off yet, so Eren supposed that was something.

“I thought we were over the grabbing, tsk,” Levi shifted footing, turning to half face him, “You are quite the dirty fighter, Jeager.” 

He tugged his thigh forward, watching Eren’s fingers move with it. When the boy had yet to remove his hand, he looked at him questioningly.

Eren blinked out of his stupor, removing his hand fast and becoming indignant even quicker than that.

“It’s effective, sir!” He squawked.

“Grabbing ass in battle is not effective, especially if you want to keep those wandering fingers of yours.” Levi fiddled with the twisted strap until it was lying flush once more.

“It worked on you…” Eren muttered aloud. 

He was on his ass before he knew it, blinking up at the sky and wondering how it got there so quickly. He groaned and sat up on an elbow, looking at the Corporal who had crouched beside him. Eren pouted, disorientated.

Levi peered down at him and if Eren had to guess, he looked slightly amused. Although, that could just be the dizziness talking.

“Hmm, works on you too. I stand corrected. Get up, we’re starting round two.”

Eren groaned.

They ended up staying out in their wood grove for much longer than usual. Eventually, Eren could track Levi’s full speed with ease, making his defence much more noteworthy. With that in mind, he had more time to get on the offensive, pushing Levi back more than one occasion. He no longer stood on the spot like a targeted meat bag and was soon jumping around, trying to swing round Levi like it had been done to him.

Levi didn’t take many decent hits, but Eren was sure that he could feel the exertion of the pressure Eren unleashed on him. He was right, when Levi landed steadily on the ground, Eren flying at him from the low branch he was perched on. Levi effortlessly found purchase on the boy’s flying fist and used his momentum to swing him up and over him.

When Eren landed in a heap on the floor, he let out a laugh.

Levi’s chest was rising and falling quicker as he tried to catch his breath, yet still he looked composed and as Eren picked a leaf out of his hair, he found this very much unfair.

“You’ve improved.” 

Eren took the observation as a rare compliment. It warmed him to his toes.

“One day I’ll be a worthy sparring opponent to you, I’ll aim for that.” Eren stated as he got to his feet.

“In time, you’re not bad now, grabbing aside.” 

Eren huffed out another breathless laugh, feeling like they’ve developed a private joke between them. He brushed the dirt off from his knees and walked over to stand next to Levi, he waited for orders, patiently standing there covered in dirt.

Levi studied him silently for a moment, before turning towards the castle. 

“Let’s go, you’re filthy and I am in need of a shower myself.”

Eren watched as Levi started making his way back, jogging to catch up side by side to the man. The sun was disappearing quickly now, leaving them less light by the minute. Eren felt his muscles ache with each step, yet he couldn’t help but make note that time spent with his Corporal were quickly and very effectively becoming his favourite.

* * *

  
  


“Are you fucking kidding me.”

Eren and Levi had just rolled in to the castle, expecting to find relative peace on the way to their showers. That idea shot straight out of the window when Erd caught sight of the Corporal. He dismissed their sweaty, dirtied appearances in favour of handing Levi a letter. Levi frowned, flipped the envelope over and saw the print of the Council’s seal. 

Erd tactfully ignored Levi’s comment, and pressed on, “It came this afternoon, thought it best I gave it to you as soon as you returned.”

Eren thought if there was a time Levi would ever throw a tantrum, it would be now. They were both so filthy, sweat and grime, leaves and mud smattered their uniforms, they felt clammy, looked worse and on top of that, they were exhausted.

Still, Levi just pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. Eren counted to five before Levi decided to open them again. His patience was a quality even he admired, he could pinpoint the moment where Levi resigned himself to the fact the shower would have to wait.

Like he thought, a saint.

Levi ripped the seal off and withdrew the letter inside. He was quick to read it, fingernails progressively tightening around the crisp edge of the sheet. After he reached the bottom, the paper was flung high above him.

“Fucking pigs, Erd, get Hanji.”

Eren shook his head, maybe not. 

Levi settled himself against the wall, looking extremely disgruntled. Eren quietly joined him, arms behind his back as they waited for Hanji. It didn’t take long, they could hear her barrelling down the corridors, and soon found her head peering over the bannister of the stairwell, before spotting them and clambering down the stairs.

“What’s up, my favourite boy-o’s?” Hanji questioned, looking between the two. 

Levi sighed, drawing his knee up to have his foot resting against the wall behind him, “We have sniffer pigs sooner than we’d have liked.”

Eren was confused, but he just stayed silent beside them and listened.

Hanji cocked her head to the side before Erd decided to help her out by retrieving the letter that Levi had discarded. They let her read it and soon she was groaning loudly. “What the hell do they want so soon? Sticking their nose in where it doesn’t belong. Oh I could _just-_ “

“Be that as it may,” Levi interjected before Hanji really got going, “This poses a problem.”

The Corporal and Hanji shared a look, appearing to have an entirely silent conversation to which Eren was excluded. Levi nodded, before turning to make his leave. He went down the far corridor and out of sight.

Eren looked to Hanji, confused and seeking clarification, to which she just beamed at him, 

“Hanji, what--.” 

“Hm? Oh. Oh? This?” She flapped the letter around, “Just the Council wanting a progress report with actual…. Progress in it, which we both know isn’t possible at the moment. But!” Here she gripped his shoulders and absent mindedly started brushing off dirt, “But, we aren’t the Survey Corps for no reason! We always have avenues to check out. Call it part of the recon.”

Eren was now entirely confused, he was half tempted to shake the woman just to see if sense would fall out. He resisted, settling for a simple, “huh?”

She pushed her glasses atop of her head and bent slightly at the knees to become eye level with him.

“Say Eren, how would you like to see your friends?”

* * *

  
  


Armin felt a little… well, _jittery,_ for lack of a better word. 

His weeks had been spent being a bubble of nervous energy, biting his nails down to nubs and re-evaluating everything that had happened again and again in his head until it all blurred into one. It didn’t help that Mikasa, strong and independent as she was, had unconsciously wound down his calm and ability to think straight these last few weeks. 

She had been a lot to handle. Usually, Armin knew how to talk his way into a better situation, however, when words fell on deaf ears, he had no choice but see a flaw to his qualities. If she was unwilling to listen to him, which had proven true to the point of frustration, then all that was left for poor little Armin was to be swept up in her path. 

He thought about the sea, in an attempt to calm his nervous heart, yet when the door slammed open on his hinges, banging against the wall and rebounding noisily, that sea turned into a catastrophic meltdown and Armin was left clutching the closest thing near him, a ladle, as his only source of protection. 

Mikasa stormed past him, grabbing a sack of potatoes and a knife.

Armin blinked and lowered the ladle fractionally.

“Mikasa? You aren’t on kitchen duty?” He questioned, already knowing that she wasn’t scheduled for it.

Mikasa stabbed a potato and started peeling it, “I am now,” was all she said, slicing it in half and chucking it into a giant pot.

Armin ignored his hammering heart and picked up some carrots, readying himself in preparing them. He started chopping them and silence fell over them both for a minute or two, before the calculating side of Armin got the better of him,

“What did you do this time?”

“…”

“Mikasa…”

“…I may have threatened an officer with cutting parts of his body off that he wasn’t using anyway.”

Armin frowned, “His brain?”

Mikasa glanced at him momentarily, “His balls, actually.”

Armin winced.

To be fair, that was one of the tamer threats Mikasa had unleashed on any authority she had the pleasure of bumping into. Armin could relate, although perhaps not in the same method as her, but on the same level of frustration, certainly. The fact was that no one would tell them _anything._ At this point they didn’t even know if Eren was alive.

Sure, they had been reassured, but what good was that? Nothing would ease Mikasa’s mood until her eyes landed on Eren in person. Although this was true for Mikasa on an emotional level, it was true for Armin on a mental level, hard evidence was the purest of truth after all.

He pushed his fringe from his eyes with his forearm and peered over at the girl. It was hard to even look at her these days. To anyone else she was as fiery and reliable as ever, if only a little unpredictable in her moods, however to Armin, she was falling apart. 

She owed Eren her life, and her protectiveness ran deep, even if it was unwanted. Eren was one of a kind, and belonged with them both. He smiled softly down to his carrot, picturing one of their many childish fights.

“I hope that officer pissed his pants.” He said, blinking up at Mikasa when her eyes widened and she started laughing quietly, a little surprised Armin had it in him. He joined in too and soon they felt foreign in their bodies, laughing for the first time in a long time.

They were interrupted when a man in a green cloak stepped through the kitchen door. Light blue eyes studied them both until they fell quiet, knifes and vegetables hanging loosely in their palms.

“Ackerman and Arlert, I presume?” came the deep voice. 

They both saluted him, but Armin’s mind was already calculating. He had seen this man somewhere before, he tried to clear his memory from the last few weeks of haze, filtering through numerous faces in his mind trying to place him.

This man was important, more so than anyone else they had seen in a long time. But why? 

The man entered the room further, nodding to their salute and raising his hand, as though they could relax.

He came to perch on a stool, resting his arms loosely on his thighs. Armin could tell this man was tactful and clever, just by the way he moved himself and the presence around him. His movements, although non-threatening, were calculated and graceful. 

He looked them both over once more, swift and efficiently, before speaking,

“I’m--.” 

Armin gasped, he remembered where he’d seen this man before, “You’re Commander Smith from the Survey Corps!” 

Erwin quirked an eyebrow at that, impressed from the boy’s memory. It seemed a very long time ago since the trial in the courtroom, and whilst Erwin had their military files, they only had their memories to rely on. 

Mikasa however, had dropped her knife to the ground, clattering noisily as she stepped forward, eyes trained on Erwin.

“You have Eren, where is he? Is he alive? Tell me—.” Armin bravely grabbed her arm, pulling her back to his side as a precaution.

To Erwin’s credit, he hadn’t budged an inch. He was surprised Mikasa hadn’t remembered him sooner, but as the reports go, her infatuation with Eren potentially left her narrow sighted to anything beyond the boy. Still, her fighting potential alone could brush any few faults she may have under the carpet.

The small blonde spoke up, “I’m sorry for interrupting you, sir.” Erwin was quick to dismiss it, after all, Armin’s military file was his top favourite. He could see the strategist in this boy just waiting to be honed and trained. He very much wanted to personally tutor him, if time allowed it.

“No apology needed. I am sure you’re both eager to be updated.” He smiled briefly at them whilst they nodded at him.

“You’re aware Eren is in the possession of the Survey Corps--.” He held up a hand when Mikasa went to object, “—Not as a possession, Ackerman. We don’t treat our comrades like objects.” Mikasa folded her arms, so he continued.

“The truth is,” He paused, eyeing them up, “Is that Eren needs your help.”

The words were barely out of his mouth before Mikasa was practically frantic, wanting to do something, anything, yet needing more information.

“How? Why? We’ll do it. Take us to him.”

Armin and Erwin shared a look, obviously coming to the same conclusion that both parties would have to talk this out smartly, and without any fly decisions.

Armin broke eye contact and tugged again on Mikasa’s sleeve. He had gained a new calm, more so than he had felt in weeks, and he felt himself taking control on their current situation.

“Mikasa, sit.”

Mikasa stopped in her path, recognising Armin’s tone of voice. It didn’t happen often, yet when he adapted this new demeanour, she trusted him more than anything. Armin would always be trusted when he got like this, in her opinion, it was like looking at glimpses of what Armin would become in the future. She sat down next to him, forcing herself to remain still and no longer contributing to conversation, instead opting to just listening until they were done.

Armin turned back to Erwin once she had settled, “If you please, Commander, we are more than willing to listen.”

Erwin continued, “Then I shall start from the beginning and fill you in entirely, so you can make a decision with all facts on the table.”

Armin nodded, grateful for this fact, he had won them the information they had wanted. However he was aware this wasn’t a great victory as both he and Erwin knew they’d agree to anything with or without information as long as they could be reunited with Eren.

Still, he appreciated it. Erwin began telling them everything, to the attempts, the methods, the findings, the healing processes, even the close call Eren had with the spoon incident. He told them of Corporal Levi’s role in all this and how low mood Eren sometimes fell into due to people’s reluctance with him.

He caught them up to how Eren had made no progress and the Council report that had landed on his desk in a rumbled fashion. 

Both Armin and Mikasa had remained quiet throughout the talk, Armin clicking things into place often before Erwin told it. He could see it now, Erwin’s reason for being seated in front of them, yet there was one question he couldn’t help but ask,

“Sir, I do hope I don’t offend you, but why did you personally come? I feel you’re far too busy to be filling the two of us in on something a lower ranking member could have told us?”

Erwin didn’t take offense, glad to be asked, “Sincerity, actually.”

Armin felt puzzled, “We would have believed anyone at this point if it meant a chance to see Eren, sir.”

“You may not see it yet, but the two of you are very valuable, in fact I’d go as far to say a ‘dynamic duo’ of sorts. Yet even I can see that you are deep rooted from a trio. What I’m asking of you is not an easy thing to ask. Eren is unpredictable in his titan form, and certainly not stable yet. I couldn’t trust the word of a report from one of my men to say your convictions are true. I had to see it for myself.”

Armin decided to let Erwin know he had figured out exactly what Erwin needed them for, “The experiments weren’t going well, but that was fine up until now, because you had time. Now you don’t. The council has put a time limit on Eren’s head and you need to meet schedule as top priority.”

Erwin encouraged him with a nod, so Armin continued, “Squad leader Hanji has tried most avenues, yet she had one more try as a last resort. Mikasa and I in person, present with Eren in titan form. She wants to replicate Trost of sorts to study what stabilized him. He was unconscious last time, but without him punching himself in the face, we will be risking our lives to do this even if he is contained. You came here to see if we chose to go, that we’d have no regrets if we said yes.”

Erwin was almost giddy inside, this boy in front of him was something else. 

“That is correct.”

Mikasa finally unfolded her arms, coming up to stand, “Did Eren pledge his allegiance to the Survey Corps?”

Erwin looked to her, knowing she was asking if Eren joined willingly or if he was forced in the end. Erwin knew that Eren would prefer to be nowhere else but by Levi’s side these days, even if the Corporal or the shifter didn’t realise it yet.

“He did.”

Mikasa stared at him searchingly, until nodding as though her mind was set, “Then so do I, when do we leave?”

Erwin stood up, gazing down at these formidable two. God bless those who stand in their path, “Now, if you wish.”

Mikasa practically lobbed the potato behind her, not even smug when it landed in the giant pot, Armin dropped his carrot onto the table and watched Mikasa leave the room, “Sir, does this mean we are now part of the Survey Corps?”

Erwin shook his head, “Not if you don’t want to be, we could call it ‘borrowing your services’ if you wished to be in a different regiment later on. Yet, if you desire to be part of the Survey Corps, then I would gladly welcome you.” He would too, he thought, as between Eren, Mikasa and Armin, he couldn’t remember the last time training corps pushed through soldiers with so much potential.

Armin didn’t even pause to contemplate it, “We would both very much like to be in the Survey Corps, sir.” He saluted.

Erwin just smiled down at him, “Good, I already have your cloaks prepared in the carriage.”

Armin blinked up at him, and Erwin winked back, before leaving the room.

* * *

  
  


Levi was carrying Eren back to his room, the boy was again unconscious in his arms, burning uncomfortably again him. He was used to the heat now, it barely affected him as he made his way up the stairs. 

The only difference Levi could feel was that Eren felt slightly heavier, and where Levi gripped at his thighs and ribs, he could feel the smooth lines of muscles that had developed quickly over the weeks he had been here.

Levi pegged it down to their daily sparring. They had been extending the hours they spent in their grove, both not even entirely sure it was truly just for anger management anymore. If anything, Levi admitted that it was very rewarding to let loose and train exclusively with someone. 

If he had to admit even further than that, it was good to feel contact with someone that wasn’t two metres tall or higher who was trying to eat him and that it was just good to grapple with a human with soulful green eyes. 

Levi paused in his step, frowning at his thought.

He tried to conclude that the human didn’t need to have ‘soulful green eyes’, he scoffed, but then realised that he couldn’t name one other person he could find himself sparring with for weeks on end.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Why _couldn’t_ he see himself spending hours on end in some one else’s presence? And why _could_ he easily see it with Eren? Was it due to the banter? Hell, Eren could talk for Wall Maria, but then again, he could also be good at quick witty comebacks when he knew Levi wasn’t pulling rank.

Levi carried on up the stairs, letting his feet take him on autopilot whilst he was lost in his thoughts.

And that was it, wasn’t it? Levi often _didn’t_ pull rank when they were alone. He didn’t feel the need to. He often dismissed Eren’s salutes and preferred it much more when Eren spoke his mind, unafraid of saying something to piss ‘the Corporal’ off. He even recalled the time when Eren had called him Levi, doing nothing to reprimand him, and even though Eren hadn’t slipped up again, he wasn’t sure if he would even bother correcting the brunette unless they were with company.

He frowned further and looked down to Eren’s face, his lips were slightly parted and his eyelashes fanned his cheeks, casting pretty shadows over his cheekbones. His tanned skin glowed in the light of the lanterns and he looked flushed from the heat.

Levi swallowed thickly and looked back up away from him. It felt like a private thing, to look into the face of someone unconscious of him doing so, yet as he turned the corner of a long corridor, he felt his eyes gliding back over Eren’s face anyway.

This was a very strange thing to be happening to him, it felt foreign and not entirely comfortable. He wanted to ignore it and bury it before he could put a name to it. He was the fucking Corporal for goodness sake, ‘Humanity’s Strongest’, he didn’t have time or the inclination to be dealing with this shit.

‘So what?’ His mind toyed with him, ‘That’s ‘Humanity’s Last Hope’ in your arms.’ He stilled again, practically blanching from his own mind. 

That title doesn’t define who Eren is, he came to the conclusion, just like Humanity’s Strongest didn’t define him. It was just a label, just another thing to tag onto the various names they both had. He knew for certain that ninety eight percent of the population thought they knew him, but they didn’t. They just shoved labels on him. Just like they did to Eren.

They all thought they knew Eren. He was a monster, untrustworthy, also irrational and the only hope their world had at the same time. It was bizarre, none of those things described Eren as a person. That’s why Levi never had the time for people, because they were all idiots. They all jumped to conclusions and fuck all other logic.

A small gust came through the windows of the corridors, causing Eren’s hair to be tousled over his eyes.

Levi paused at the door where Eren was kept when he was recovering, still lost in thought.

Not Eren though, Eren didn’t judge people at first sight. He was too busy wrapped up in his goals and passions to be side tracked by something so petty. Levi supposed that’s what he liked best about Eren. He was always aiming for bigger, aiming for beyond the walls, and not within them.

Levi supposed he shared those same goals, wanting to be rid of these shitty people and to be far off in a corner of the earth not surrounded by so many assholes. Not surrounded by walls. If he could save the lives of the remaining innocent people along the way, then so be it.

Eren was fighting for so many different reasons, all giving him the power to do so. Levi had to admit sometimes even he felt a little swept away by Eren’s determination.

He watched the brunette in his arms, opening the door to the room on instinct and stepping inside. He laid Eren down onto the bed and without giving thought to his actions, raised his hand to gently brush Eren’s hair out of his eyes. 

The tips of his fingers lingered for a beat too long, before he removed them and straightened.

A small cough had him pausing, before he slowly turned his head to see a blonde boy and a raven haired girl watching him closely.

Oh.

The blonde wanted to pipe up, “Sir?”

Levi’s eye twitched, “No.”

Armin cocked his head to the side, “But, Sir--.”

“No. Just no.”

Levi had taken two large steps backwards, not even bothering to turn around and face the right direction, it was just wasting time anyway.

Armin was desperately trying to hide a smile, the Corporal was just walking backwards, eyes hard as steel yet cheeks just a touch pink on his pale complexion. 

“Corporal Levi--.”

Levi’s hand was on the door handle, and he was already removing half his body from sight.

 _“No,”_ He hissed, ignorance is bliss. He was a strong believer of that in this very moment. It was his strongest belief. Ignorance. Is. Fucking. Bliss. 

He was about to slam the door shut behind him, before gritting his teeth. His head popped back round the door to give them both a solid stare,

“Speak to no one of this.” 

The danger was implied by his gravelling tones, and the door was shut with extra emphasis.

Armin turned to look at Mikasa, who actually looked a little shocked, he couldn’t help it then, he burst into laughter.

Well, he thought, Commander Erwin had certainly failed to mention _this_ little development to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, sorry for the delay, I fell ill and hibernated for more days than expected, but here we go, Chapter 7 is also well over half way done, so no delays expected for that :)
> 
> Thank you for reading chapter 6! As usual, please let me know what you think! Even just a few reviews/kudos/bookmarks has me writing like crazy! It's magical!


	7. Chapter 7

Mikasa and Armin barely left Eren's side until he woke. Since Levi deposited him there, they had been with him for nine hours and counting. They learned from a medic who came to check on him that Eren had just got back from another attempt and they found out that still Squad Leader Hanji could not get a response from him other than some pissed off growling.

The medic explained that Levi had cut him out yet again, and that Eren should be waking up soon, his approximated waking time was down to ten hours.

Mikasa was holding his hand, thumb gently rubbing soothing circles as she waited. Armin was busy scribbling down notes in a note pad, deciding it was a good idea to jot down his own findings and methods from his memory of Trost so that he could discuss them with Hanji.

There was a groan from the bed and Mikasa blinked out of her stupor, eyes settling on Eren's face instead of his hand and she watched as his eyes swam into focus.

"Oh, Eren…" she breathed, lifting from her seat to give him a one armed hug. Eren huffed her hair out of his mouth,

"Mikasa?"

He felt her nod against him and tighten her hold before releasing him and sitting down again, fingers still laced between his own. He squeezed back and looked at her, then spotted Armin in the corner, who had raised from his own chair to make his way over to perch on the side of the bed.

"Hey Armin," He said, watching as the blonde waved at him. He felt his whole body sag, relieved to finally see some other faces that didn't hate him.

He sat up in bed, Mikasa passing him some water for his parched throat.

"I can't believe you're here," he said, looking over them both and noticing the cloaks adorning them that looked new, "Did you join the Survey Corps? But initiation isn't for a few weeks yet."

Armin grinned at him, "Commander Smith collected us, and I'm glad too because I think Mikasa was about to murder some people, either that or some potatoes, I'm not sure."

Mikasa rolled her eyes but couldn't help smile, "They deserved it."

Eren blinked, "The people or the potatoes?"

"Both." She deadpanned, but soon cracked into a smile when Eren and Armin started laughing.

The three of them spent the next few hours crowded around Eren's bed, catching up over the time passed and Mikasa squeezing every detail out of him. Eren didn't mind, if anything he had missed her incessant checking of his wellbeing and found himself chatting away with them with an ease he hadn't felt since he last saw them both.

Armin was particularly curious over the spoon incident, comparing Hanji's outcome to the events in Trost. Yet even he was puzzled as to why Eren couldn't bring his own mind to the surface when controlling the titan.

Eren described the Special Ops Squad to them both, picking out the members and their odd personality quirks, and when he explained Levi, Mikasa became on edge.

Eren noticed, "Mikasa, he isn't an evil person, he hasn't hit me since…"

Armin smirked behind his hand, "I don't think that's the reason why she's on edge, Eren."

Eren cocked his head to the side, watching as Mikasa sent a glare Armin's way, "Then why?"

The blonde raised both eyebrows high, as though Eren was acting dumb on purpose, "Maybe it's because the Corporal and you are quite… close? Mikasa, I'm just going to throw it out there," He said, ignoring her sharp look towards him, "We thought you'd need us more than this when we arrived, Eren, but you were practically humming when you were speaking of him."

Eren pushed his head back against the headboard, as though reeling from the information, he looked between the both of them, feeling his cheeks grow hot.

"We-we aren't _that_ close!" He squawked.

Mikasa frowned, "Then why was he carrying you in here and brushing your hair from your eyes?"

Eren slapped his palms against the bed covers as he leaned forward towards them, mouth agape and face in shock, "He did _what?!_ "

Armin's cheeks were hurting, his smile stretching from ear to ear, "You didn't _know_ he carried you?"

"No! I just assumed…" He paused here, realising that actually, he never stopped to think how he ended up from down the bottom of a well to a comfy bed after each experiment. All those times… all those times he had been carried up here from the fields. By Levi…

He groaned loud and long as he grabbed a pillow and smothered his face behind it.

Clever little Armin though was having none of it. All these conclusions he had come to in just twenty four hours, oh how his brain had missed these mental workouts. There seemed to be a very obvious attraction between his best friend and the Corporal, and like most ignorant people, they both didn't realise it. Armin often wondered what it was like in the world of other people's brains, it must be so frustratingly confusing!

Still, at least he could have some fun.

"We caught him bringing you in, he didn't realise we were there. Settled you down on the bed as though you were made of glass. Then he brushed your hair out of your eyes for you. It was quite sweet, wasn't it Mikasa?"

Mikasa contributed to this conversation using her eyes alone. It didn't take a genius like Armin to figure out that she was screaming murder. He felt happy bubbles flooding his insides, yet he choked them down to just a happy smile.

Meanwhile, Eren had abandoned his face pillow, and was staring at Armin in genuine shock, hand raised to his fringe as though checking if the Corporal's fingers were still there.

Armin had to look away, he felt tears threatening to fall down his face, leaving behind 'ha ha ha's' on his cheeks.

Mikasa interrupted abruptly, "Eren, do you like him?"

And wasn't that just the question to ask?

Hadn't Eren sort of been asking himself this question, in a roundabout way, to himself? Hadn't he been asking why he liked spending time with Levi more and more? Hadn't that been why he found himself admiring the man's physique and questioning why? Why he felt infinitely better when he was in his company? It all came down to that one question Mikasa had nailed on the head, really.

Did Eren like him?

He never really considered what that truly meant until it was thrust upon him in the form of a blunt question. What did it mean to really like someone? Eren had been so caught up on just staying alive, avenging, growing in strength for so long now. He had been so focused on just keeping those close to him alive, on making sure he was strong enough to ensure his friends saw each new day.

Not to mention the fact that he hadn't had any breathing space. Three years focused on training then one day flipped him into dealing with being a monster and dealing with all the emotional hate he was receiving from the public.

Eren thought about Levi and the days he had spent with him. He thought about their conversations, sometimes brief as they were, and thought about all the life lessons Levi had given him. He felt like a better person around Levi, and he was very aware of the fact that he owed a lot to the Corporal.

He wasn't sure of it, but he felt like he knew Levi better than the majority of people. That may be foolish thinking on Eren's behalf, but he couldn't help but think it true. Levi was actually very caring under his dismissive demeanour, he fought not because he was strong, but because he refused to see anyone else die. Eren remembered standing on a box in the crowd, getting a glimpse of Levi and the Survey Corps, and wishing to be like him one day.

He also remembered being seated on Hanji's couch, legs daringly covering Levi's lap, and how nice it had felt to share his warmth. Also his knuckles brushing taunt thigh, close to his ass when they were sparring.

He felt his cheeks grow hot once more. It had felt nice, hadn't it? He most definitely knew that he didn't mind that sort of physical contact with Levi, and although he first pegged that up to being lonely, he realised now that _that_ kind of physical contact with anyone else would feel weird. He didn't want that with someone else. Just Levi…

Eren's eyes widened.

Armin smiled gleefully, "Ah, there's nothing more fascinating to watch than a loveable idiot's personal revelation."

Eren blinked out of his stupor and threw the abandoned pillow at Armin's head, "Absolutely shut up right now."

Armin mocked hurt, but soon retaliated by throwing the pillow back. Eren took it directly to the face so that he could grab Armin's extended arm, tugging him further on the bed so he could prod his sides. Soon they were a mass of flailing limbs and boyish giggles, each squawking their protests at the other.

Mikasa just sighed and stood, evacuating her seat on the bed to take up the chair in the corner. She avoided a pillow to the head by a swift dodge to the left, and took to reading a book, pretending the two closest people to her were not a pair of snickering chumps.

Soon, they were hollering and wrestling on the bed, pillows scattered around the room and throwing poorly constructed battle cries. In their great war, they had failed to hear the knock on the door, and had failed to see light footed Levi standing there studying the scene.

It was only when he had dodged a pillow with his own quick reflexes that Mikasa caught him move out of the corner of her eye. They locked stares, remaining silent for a long pause. Soon Mikasa decided to end it after Levi broke contact to watch Eren and Armin as they became an intangible mess of human limbs and inhuman noise,

"Boys."

It didn't work, neither of them heard her in the slightest. Then again, she hadn't spoken very loudly. If anything, she had picked the exact moment when Eren decided to unsheathe his imaginary sword and impale poor Armin in the gut.

Levi rolled his eyes,

"Eren."

The brunette's head shot up, body pivoting to look behind him. Levi hadn't called any louder than Mikasa had, so when Mikasa looked at Levi, it wasn't with fondness.

Armin sat up on one elbow, also noticing the new presence in the room.

The silence was astounding.

Levi was used to pregnant silences, yet in this case, he could feel the elephant in the room as though it had steamrolled over him. All three of them were staring at him like he had grown three heads. He felt very aware of himself in that moment, mind reeling as to why two of them had their mouths hanging open and one of them was trying to send him to his grave through glaring alone.

His eyes settled on Eren, "Breakfast in ten, go shower. Fields after that."

Eren's whole face looked flushed and Levi couldn't help but wonder if his temperature was still up from his last transformation. He watched briefly as Eren called out a hurried "Yes sir!" as the boy scrambled off the bed, tripping up slightly as he disentangled from the blonde.

When Eren had a handful of hygiene products and a fresh outfit, he was just passing Levi when the raven haired man stopped him with a touch to his arm.

"Eren, are you fit enough today? You look like you're running a temperature." He murmured.

The brunette turned his wide eyes to look at Levi, "Yes sir, I feel fine."

From this close, Levi swore Eren turned even redder, yet he couldn't feel any extra heat seeping from the boy. He nodded and released his elbow, watching as Eren tried to salute, but thought better of it when he realised he was encumbered.

Once Eren's footsteps could no longer be heard, he turned his sharp eyes to Arlert and Ackerman.

"You two come with me, there's a particular mad woman who wants to meet you. But first, showers and breakfast."

Levi turned on his heel, wondering when he had become tour guide and guardian of the new brats. He guessed he had opted into it when he decided to collect Eren for the day. As the two trailed behind him, he wondered how many times he would be expecting to collect the brunette and finding he had to separate this noisy and eccentric trio.

He hoped not often. He was used to grabbing Eren on the fly without anything else to consider and he damned well didn't like that silence when he entered. Or the wrestling for that matter.

Levi sighed silently through his nose.

* * *

  
  


Levi and Eren had made it early to the fields, long before any of the teams were due to show up. The tents sat abandoned and the wind rustled the grassy expanse before them.

Mikasa and Armin were currently with Hanji, discussing in detail the planned events and swapping information that Hanji could not gather from the written reports of the Trost battle.

Whilst Eren and Levi had been walking to the fields, Levi explained that Hanji and Erwin had been debating the best way to move forward now with the addition of Mikasa and Armin. It had been decided that once Eren was transformed and secure in the well, the two of them would have free reign for a little while. It was agreed that two fresh minds to this experiment were best left to take their own course of action, undeterred by opinions from Hanji. Special Ops would be on standby like usual just in case.

If that did not work then they would pause and regroup for ideas.

Eren nodded along, taking the information in. To be honest, it didn't matter too much for him, as long as they were safe from him. He had no part in this experiment until he could gain mental control anyways. He never knew the outcome until he woke up from it hours later.

They settled down, perching on the lip of the well and staring out into the distance. They shared a comfortable silence for a while, both feeling no need to fill the peace with incessant chatter. Eren picked at the rough stone of the well, watching as little chunks broke loose and fell to the grass, tiny dust plumes stirring in the wind.

Half an hour passed before Eren spoke, "I hope today we have a breakthrough." He said quietly, the time had let his mind wander, about his frustrating failures, "I'm so tired of being weak."

Levi crossed his extended legs at the ankle, adjusting his gaze to Eren's boot.

"You aren't weak, Eren. Weakness is for those who stop trying."

Eren bit his lip, realizing that he mostly wanted to make a breakthrough today just so he could feel some relief, so he could reassure his Corporal that he wasn't a wasted investment. He didn't say it aloud this time though, remembering the time Levi had told him he wasn't a waste of his time.

"I hate not knowing though, and it's so infuriating that I was able to do it before, so why not now? I just don't know what I can do."

Levi glanced at the brunette's face, staring off into the distance but not really seeing it. Eren was lost in his own warring thoughts, struggling to find any sort of peace with it. This boy felt so much, he had so much anger and confusion and nowhere to put it and no way of understanding it.

Levi averted his gaze, opting to look out across the fields like Eren.

"Everything is uncertain, Eren. It's always been like this for me… I believe in my own strength, and you should too. But… No one can truly know how it will end, you just keep trying until you have an outcome you can live with."

Eren looked at him then, eyes flickering across his face, taking in his words.

Levi returned his gaze and silence settled over them once more.

Eren eventually nodded, lips pulling up into a quiet smile, and Levi couldn't help but feel it was a private kind of smile, as though Eren had taken the time to consider his words, commit them to memory and accept them.

Eren turned his head back to the front, but not before whispering a quiet, "Thank you, Levi."

Levi felt the immediate decision to dismiss the lack of title and use of his name, knowing he was right that he would feel no need to pull rank when they were alone.

Instead, he settled for nodding his head.

"You're welcome."

* * *

  
  


They were both fully dressed in their 3DMG gear, brand new and tested that morning. Armin adjusted his straps pulling them taunt as he watched Mikasa untuck her short hair from the collar of her cloak.

There was a bustle of activity around them, members milling in and out of tents, some already seated on the floor looking bored, some already scribbling in notes or preparing the flare gun.

Armin glanced around them and then let out a steady breath. He could see a short way into the distance Corporal Levi clapping Eren on the shoulder before retreating into the trees, Eren giving him a half wave before clambering down a rope ladder, where a member was soon pulling it up and dragging it back towards them. The Corporal had disappeared from sight and soon Armin's attention was drawn to Hanji beside them, cocking a grin and also a flare gun.

"Just remember, don't be scared of him, he's just a little pissed." She grinned, lifting one hand to her ear and the other high above her, winking as the flare went sailing above them.

Erd, who was beside her frowned, after the ringing in their ears stopped, he leaned towards them hurriedly, "That doesn't mean he isn't dangerous, treat this with extreme caution. He isn't your friend right now."

He could hear Eren's distinctive human cry, the sound full of pain which had him on edge and Mikasa taking a step forward on instinct. Soon the tone changed louder and deeper as the smoke billowed up over the well and the looming figure of Eren's titan appeared. Armin couldn't help his mouth from dropping open slightly in awe. He had seen Eren before of course, yet the eyes took a little time to adjust to, it was an extraordinary occurrence, after all.

The smoke settled with the silence, and as the heavy breathing of Eren's titan filled their surroundings, Armin looked high above him into his best friend's face. He was barely recognisable, but those eyes never lied, it was what Armin loved most about Eren's appearance, human or titan it seemed. Those eyes could never hold back how much his best friend felt, even now they were smouldering with emotions. Yes, Armin thought, as he looked to Mikasa who wore a similar expression on her face, she turned to look at him and nodded, both thinking the same thing, their Eren is in there.

Something settled in Armin, he ignored the people around him, all who wore bored expressions as though this task was a useless one, and felt a great calm sweep over his body like the gentle puffs of air Eren was sending over them.

He knew he wasn't a particularly strong soldier. His use of the 3DMG gear was subpar at best, his fighting skills worse than that. He found the 'light swords' kinda heavy and the ache of his muscles came too quick with exertion. He became out of breath a little sooner than he'd like, he often lagged just behind the rest of the group, and as long as he was being honest with himself, a little intimidated with the horses, but, goddamn it, he could rely on his brain.

He _knew_ Eren, he thought, as those giant green eyes studied him from above, he knew his best friend second to none other than Mikasa. He knew Eren's deep rooted anger for himself for not being able to control his titan, he could practically feel the frustration rolling off him. He also knew Eren could achieve anything, if guided in the right direction. Eren had saved Armin, perhaps not in such an obvious way as he had saved Mikasa, committing a double homicide at the age of nine, but Eren had become his friend, no questions asked, when they were much much younger and Armin was still full of sadness.

Eren had taken Armin's hand and drove his sadness away, and as Armin studied the face of titan Eren, which was only discovered once he had actually saved Armin from a titan's mouth and then miraculously transformed, Armin felt driven by the need to help Eren, like Eren had been helping Armin all these years.

He took a step forward.

"Mikasa," He almost whispered, blue eyes still focused entirely on Eren's watchful ones.

She titled her chin slightly toward him, eyes also never leaving Eren's face. She didn't say anything, already assuming Armin knew she was listening.

He gripped his lever pistons tightly, "Let's say we smack some sense into our best friend, kay?"

She smirked, eyes glinting in amusement before Armin felt the air pressure rustle his cloak, he blinked, and she was gone. He had no time to admire her speed before he took off running, choosing to only run a few feet forward for momentum before hooking a fast right lever into the nearest tree. He swung up high into the air, and arched a wide loop around their target.

Nobody knew this, but as they had sat for hours in Eren's room waiting for him to wake up, Armin and Mikasa had spent time discussing the best course of action. They knew, better than anybody, that to get results from Eren, they had to take drastic action. That's just how it worked when dealing with a fiery personality like Eren's.

So when Mikasa let loose her lever, allowing it to zip fast through the air to land snuggly in Eren's shoulder, releasing the trigger to pull her up towards Eren's face, the members started shouting.

Even Erd and Gunter made to race after her until Hanji stopped them,

" _Don't._ " Hanji called, whipping her arms out to block them. "Just trust them."

They didn't reply, mouths hanging open in shock as Mikasa landed straight on Eren's nose, a fistful of hair in her hand and one leg dangling. Hanji daren't take her eyes off the scene in front of her, instead opting to call out loudly for her members to hear,

"One of you better fucking be taking notes until your fingers bleed," she almost wailed, the excitement getting to her. They were quite literally replicating Trost. All barring the fact that Eren was very much conscious, Hanji felt ecstatic. Over the last few weeks her squads had been zipping around Eren's titan, never actually landing on him, it had taken weeks for them to get comfortable with just flying quickly past him, afraid of his snapping mouth, yet here was this girl, landing straight on his face as though she was catapulted there.

She tore her eyes away to see where the little blonde had gone, yet she couldn't spot him. In fact, Armin had arched around Eren, until he landed in a tree facing Eren's back. Here he waited for Mikasa and soon heard her shouts as planned.

"Eren!" She called, shouting as loud as she could, "Eren, it's me, Mikasa!"

During this time, Eren's titan had actually moved very little, even right now he had gone slightly boss eyed whilst he was studying her on his nose. She continued to shout, "Eren! You have to fight your anger, you have titans to kill, don't you? How are you going to do that if you can't even control your own!"

Hanji couldn't believe what she was seeing. Eren had yet to react, and Mikasa had been hovering on his nose for at least a full minute now, it was incredible, Hanji recalled weeks ago that she only took a few steps forward to have him howling at her. Maybe it was down to forced routine, his titan throughout all these past weeks had yet to have someone with enough balls to actually get up in his face like this. Maybe even Eren's titan was a little shocked.

Mikasa placed her palm on his cheek, "Eren… can you hear me? It's your sister, Mikasa…" She attempted. He blinked twice, before she could feel him inhaling deeply through his nose. She furrowed an eyebrow, trying to figure out what he was doing before her eyes widened. Oh no—

He positively _bellowed_ at her, so loud her remaining free hand shot up to her ear, the vibrations from his throat travelled up through her feet and deep into her knees. It was filled with completely unadulterated rage, startled birds flew in groups from the trees and even the members on the ground chose to cover their own ears.

Mikasa only had moments to readjust her grip before he was savagely trying to fling her off, he shook his head ferociously, whipping it back and forth until she lost purchase on his nose. She disengaged from his hair and punctured a lever into his other shoulder.

"Armin! Plan B!" She called, barely avoiding his jaw as she swung up and around him.

They had figured it would come to plan B, not really placing much faith into plan A. It had not worked the first time in Trost, they were aware, when Eren had not listened to her then, but they didn't want to rule it out. Now they could however, and Mikasa had taken to flying around him, causing distraction.

He tracked her meticulously, mouth snapping and forever roaring, as Armin straightened his arm out in front of him, lining up his shot with the back of Eren's neck. His target landed, barely, and he jumped from his branch and landed roughly onto the nape of Eren's neck. He had to use his other lever to create a secure harness to Eren, where he could stand and use his hands.

It was much harder to stand this time, with Eren thrashing side to side, desperately trying to head butt Mikasa or catch her in his mouth. Yet as he pulled his blade out of its sheath and gripped it with two hands, he tried to pinpoint where Eren's human shoulder would be, buried under titan flesh.

They were planning to drive a blade through Eren's arm again, like he had in Trost. It had worked before, somehow, and when Eren had awoken again, he had been himself. Yet this time, Eren was fully conscious, so they didn't know if they'd have the same desired outcome.

"Okay, Head would be here…" he muttered, feet teetering around to gain footing every time Eren lashed out, causing him to become off balanced.

"Neck…. Damn it, Shoulders are there…. So arm would be… here!" Armin quickly sliced a shallow cut to where he intended to plunge his sword. He had to act quickly, steam was already gathering around the narrow wound.

He took a deep breath, "Forgive me again, Eren…"

Armin rose his sword above his head, but as he was about to sink it into the titan, something went seriously wrong.

Eren's cry had gained new force, and Armin felt the force much stronger this time, lurching an incredible amount to the left. He barely kept on his feet, yet frantically glanced around him to see that Eren was leaning forward, much further than the well restricting him should allow.

As Eren bent forward, Armin was brought higher into the air, until he could see past Eren's scruff of hair and see below him the Survey members looking back in undisputed shock.

Armin swallowed hard and let his eyes drop to the grass below him, looking past Eren's great shoulder to see huge chunks of rubble from the well strewn across the field.

He had broken the well.

And now, he was climbing out.

Without the lip of the well restricting his shoulders, Eren now had the room to pull one arm free, and with that the other one. He slammed his palms on the floor, using his strength to pull his torso out and then a knee. Once one foot was on the floor, the other one easily followed.

Armin, stuck in a stupor, only felt the panic kick in when Eren rose to full height, and Armin was looking down at the floor a full fifteen metres up into the air. He still had his sword in his hand, yet it felt loose in his palm as Eren threw his head back and yelled at the sky, the rage rolling through his muscles and all Armin could do was grip a hand to the metal wires that secured him.

And that's when everything became a blur of frantic motion.

Above Eren's yelling, Armin could hear the groups yelling in action. Green cloaks scattered on the ground, some already zipping through the air with the trees to aid them. Armin could feel every time Eren moved his head to track them, thick muscles flexing taunt and untaunt. Soon the air and ground around Eren were surrounded in green cloaks, already cutting into various strips of his flesh, making him roar and swing his arms out in protection.

Armin's foot lost purchase when Eren whipped around, strong thighs taking off into a run towards the open expanses of fields, the fields they had avoided due to lack of tree cover. Armin fell, one lever pinging loose from its hold on Eren's shoulder, until he was abruptly jolted in his fall from the other lever that held secure.

He was dangling, swinging with each giant stride Eren took until he was bashing repeatedly into his back and then out again. He felt disorientated, unable to stop the blows and unable to find a grip on his remaining wire to secure him.

The groups watched as Eren took off, soon losing the cover of their trees.

"Squad Leader Hanji! Orders, please!" Shouted a member of her squad, as they watched the Special Op's squad already climbing on top of their horses and urging them out of the small paddock.

The small elite squad pelted past them, a flurry of shouts and actions.

Hanji blinked at the member, "Get me my horse, our priority is Armin first. Then cutting Eren out. Go!" She cried, watching as another member was already bringing her horse.

She climbed atop and galloped full speed towards them. Her heart was racing, mind fully battling through a dozen thoughts. Usually, as cruel as this sounds, saving a comrade isn't actually first priority when they have a titan to slay or a higher objective to be met. Yet in this instance, Armin _must_ be first priority.

If Eren ever caused the boy injury, to which she couldn't determine in this moment in time if it was intentional or not, then that was the end. They could kiss the idea of Humanity's Hope goodbye. Not because of the Survey Corps, not even because of the damned Council, but because it would break the boy's heart. It would _wreck_ him.

She urged her horse forward, heels digging into its side, they _must_ secure Armin.

Out to her far right, much further behind her, she could spot a black horse, rider raised out of their seat, flying across the field at great speed.

An earth shaking roar from up ahead had her whipping her head round, measuring the scene. Eren had come to a halt, turning his great head to survey his surroundings. Hanji squinted, and could barely make out Armin hanging from the belt on his waist, swaying around Eren's back. Just seeing Armin had her jolt hard,

"Armin!" she breathed, relief washing through her when she saw his small arm reach up to clutch his wire.

Armin felt a little shell shocked at this point, as he gripped his wire, using it to pull him up into a semi seated position. He needed to find his footing, and quickly, before titan Eren started on the move again. He would have to abseil his way up the long slope of his best friend's back, to find a better grip on his hair, at the least. Right now, he was vulnerable, too open to any momentum and already feeling beaten and bruised by the constant contact with Eren's back.

Not to mention the fact that at this point he had sweated entirely through his clothes, the uncomfortable heat making his skin clammy and slippery. He ignored the dull throbbing in his head and rotated around until he had both feet planted.

He tried to pull himself up a few steps but found his palms too sweaty and began sliding down to where he was originally.

"Arghh," he cried, feeling the frustration kick in, he gripped the wire of his other lever, which was still dangling below him from where it had pinged free. He reeled it in and decided that he'd have to take his chances of firing it back into Eren's flesh.

He set it, and aimed, praying that Eren was too distracted to feel it. It went whizzing up his back and hooked deep in the flesh between the shoulder blades. Armin held his breath yet it was short lived when Eren wailed loudly and pivoted on the spot.

The force of the pivot had him slam back into flesh and left him slightly dazed.

Then, before Armin had time to even realise it, a hand came swinging round the side until it touched him. He yelped when he felt fingers enclose around his body and pluck him away. The wires snapped and he was brought round to the front of Eren, where he was raised to eye level.

There was an odd elongated silence, as titan Eren's eyes studied him in his grip, head and shoulders barely peaking over his giant fist. Armin felt the breath catch in his throat, hair becoming tousled by the titan's breathing. They were staring at each other, one stunned to silence and the other with an unreadable expression.

"Armin!" Mikasa screeched, voice torn and face desperate, she was pushing a horse with as much force as she could get, catching up to the Special Op's squad who had just come to a halt surrounding Eren.

They had frozen, the situation extremely delicate. They had all thought they'd reach him before he discovered Armin swinging loose from his back, but now the boy was tight in his fist.

Mikasa scrambled off her horse, pushing into a run before Petra grabbed her by the back of her collar, "Don't move," she whispered, all of them staring up at Eren who had tilted his head to watch the surrounding Corps form a circle at his feet.

It was a standoff, ragged breathing filling the air and a tension so thick it was palpable.

"What do we _do,_ " Erd hissed, as Hanji came to a stop next to them,

"You know what the priority is, we aim for the fingers, once Armin is secure you're free to engage the neck."

Armin was finding it slightly hard to breath, Eren's grip wasn't enough to be crushing him, but it felt constricting enough to cause discomfort. He didn't dare take his wide eyes off his friend's face, which was looking down at the cloaks on the ground.

He could see the tension in his shoulders, coiling higher the more members showed up. He was acting like a surrounded trapped animal, tetchy and unpredictable. Armin couldn't help but stop to wonder why, cynical as it was, that Eren hadn't crushed him yet, or eaten him. He clearly didn't recognise him, yet here he was.

It wasn't much of a comforting thought though, he had to grit his teeth together to stop his jaw clacking together with nerves.

The last group came galloping in, slowing to a halt but not quite quick enough, three of the members took too long coming to a stop and they were just that little bit closer than the titan felt comfortable with.

Armin gasped, yelling a "Stop!" too late. Eren took a step back, roaring at them, and that's when then groups dashed into action.

Two groups slashed at his shins, another group hooked levers into flesh above his hips, using momentum to travel further up his body, slashing as they went, he yelled at them, swinging his limbs in protection. When one particular member slashed a deep wound right across his stomach, he bellowed, bringing his fist, with Armin in it directly in front of him.

Armin cried out in pain when the fingers tensed harder around him, the members stopping in their tracks with bated breaths.

Mikasa, more frantic than ever, screamed at them to retreat. They did so, dropping to the field and freezing.

He was angry, infuriated and wound up tight. Without buildings or trees to support them, they hadn't enough time to get past his chest, before having to retreat again. He was too tall, and acted too quickly to allow them the adequate time to reach his fingers. He was an abnormal after all, which allowed for less mistakes and much more caution.

Armin felt the tight fingers constricting his chest, he could feel the tension in his muscles, enveloping him until he could only take shallow breaths. His bones ached, his ribs bruised, his legs tingled from lack of circulation. He could feel as much as hear Eren's growling. Eren was beyond gone, completely irrational now that he thought he was under attack, one small move, one more mistake and Armin knew it would be his last.

No body dared move an inch.

Except one, one glorious fool who had been concentrated on Eren's face so hard that they jumped out of their skin when their horse shifted footing from behind and nudged them in the back. The soldier yelped, startled, and took a step forward, glancing behind him to notice it was just his horse.

However, that had been the last straw for Eren, he roared again, fist tightening as though readying for an attack. There was a loud crack in the air, and Armin screamed out in pain, voice sounding broken from the strain as he felt a rib break from the pressure. The groups bent their knees, readying their levers again, knowing that it was probably too late for Armin, for the time it took to reach him.

Before they sprang, there was a voice, carrying out far above the noise of the commotion, the black horse earlier spotted by Hanji galloped directly from the right of Eren,

Levi had chosen to arrive.

"EREN." He boomed, dismounting his horse and pushing through the right side of the group, where they parted to let him through.

The titan paused mid bellow, the sound cutting off abruptly. He turned his giant head, eyes skimming the group until they settled on Levi.

Everyone had frozen, and yet again they found themselves holding their breaths.

Armin sucked in a lungful of air, groaning from the pain.

Eren's giant form was completely still now, eyes locked on Levi with a sudden intense unwavering focus.

Levi folded his arms over his chest, naturally holding a strong stance. He may be the shortest person to this party, yet every single pair of eyes were trained on him. He ignored them all, staring up high into the face of Eren, where he held eye contact and did not falter. The silence settled around them, tension so coiled it felt uncomfortable.

Levi and titan Eren studied each other, before Levi felt he had his full attention,

"Release him, Eren." He commanded, surprisingly calm. The order was not shouted, it was spoken, just like he would if he was talking to the boy, and not to the beast.

Eren didn't react at first, continuing to stare directly into Levi's eyes, then, with a long pause, he brought his fist up to his face.

The group took a few steps forward in panic,

 _"Freeze."_ Levi shouted at his team, each one doing so at the sharpness of his order. He had never taken his face off Eren's though, studying each movement carefully. The titan had brought Armin up to the front of his face, to which he unfurled his fist, excruciatingly slowly. His bright green eyes travelled from Levi's face, to the blonde resting in his hand, eyes roaming over Armin's form.

Armin sat still, in the middle of his palm, arm clutching his ribs and observing Eren's expression. He watched as Eren's giant eyes dilated a fraction, and then nearly panicked when the titan let out a long high pitched keening noise. He was in a lot of pain in that moment, yet as he stared into his best friend's eyes, he realised that Eren now recognised him, and that Eren was upset that he was in pain.

Feeling relief wash over him in continuous waves, Armin gave Eren a wobbly smile, as though to say it was okay.

"Eren," Levi called, pulling the titan's attention instantly from Armin, bright green eyes settled on Levi once more.

"Lower him to me."

The gasps rippled through the members as Eren did so, lowering his hand slowly and with incredible gentleness. His knuckles brushed the dirt and remained there, palm flat and open. Levi uncrossed his arms and took a few steps forward.

"Corporal-!"

"Hush," He stated, raising a foot and placing it down onto the pad of Eren's finger. His other foot followed, until he was walking across Eren's palm. He bent low, scooping Armin up swiftly into his arms, then turned, back to Eren as he looked to Mikasa,

"You, take Arlert." He stated, walking over to the edge of the palm but not getting off, instead, he waited until Mikasa was at the edge until he dipped his knees, lowering the small blonde into her arms.

He straightened and turned, facing Eren once more.

"Eren, kneel."

Everyone was silent, each individual taking in the sight of a titan kneeling at the command of a human. It was an extraordinary moment, never being seen, never being imagined, until now. Yet, Eren bent his knees, crouching low until he was knelt in the grass, never breaking eye contact with the Corporal.

They were all waiting for the next command, titan and humans alike, yet as the beats of silence rolled on, Levi just quirked an eyebrow at him,

"Well?" He drawled, looking up at Eren expectantly.

The titan flicked his eyes to the side, then back to Levi, letting out a noise Levi could only interpret as confusion. He sighed, speaking to the mountain of flesh as though he was speaking to his subordinate,

"Well I'm not going to cut you out from down here, am I?" He quirked an eyebrow, watching as Eren appeared to have understood, hastily raising his palm up and towards his face. Once Levi was level with his eyes, they studied each other in close proximity.

Whilst they were doing so, Levi only had a moment to clock on to the sudden change in Eren's eyes, the pupils constricting at an alarming rate and when the growl built up at the back of Eren's throat, Levi understood the situation. It appeared that Eren was being attacked by his rage, he had been snapped out of it by Levi's presence yet it was washing through him again, threatening to take over.

He needed to control this, quickly.

 _"Eren,"_ He said sharply, "listen to me, get that rage under control right _now,_ and if you so much as let it take you then I will be severely disappointed. Am I clear?"

Apparently, he was. He watched Eren struggle until his eyes dilated back to how they were previously, his breathing becoming shallow once more. He dropped his eyes to the ground, no longer looking at Levi, and raised his palm up to his shoulder.

Once Levi hopped off his palm, Eren lowered his head, looking extremely sorry for himself.

Levi made quick work of cutting him out, yanking the boy out by his armpits with practised ease. He jumped down off the steaming titan and everyone cleared a path for him to walk. He deposited Eren on the ground a few metres away from the corpse, and was about to stand up when he heard a choking sound.

He turned sharply to look down at the boy, to find him sucking in great gulps of air, arms rising to his throat, gasping rapidly as though he couldn't breathe, and Levi was knelt by his side in an instant,

"Hanji!" He yelled, the brunette falling to the ground on the other side of Eren,

"He's hyperventilating," She diagnosed on sight, whipping her head to the side, "You," she pointed, eyes landing on Gunter, "Quick, get me the medical supplies," Gunter rushed towards one of the loaded horses, grabbing the medical sack and dragging it over.

Meanwhile, Levi had gripped Eren's wrists, gently prying them away from his throat, tutting at the angry scratch marks that had formed, red and angry against his skin. It was a hard thing to hear, Eren gasping over and over, in the midst of a full blown panic attack. Levi watched with difficultly as tears rolled down the boy's cheeks,

He was croaking out noises, until they became coherent clawed words, shaking his head and repeating and repeating, "I…. _re_ -remember, I … _remember_ …" body writhing fully now against Levi until he had to pin his arms with his elbows, hands already occupied with his wrists.

"Hanji, for fuck sake hurry it _up_ ," he stated through clenched teeth, feeling Eren's wrist twist in his grip and long fingers wrap around his wrist. Hanji was dousing a rag in some clear liquid and was then holding it close to Eren's nose.

Eren calmed down with immediate effect, only a few broken sobs emerging until he soon became still, fingers loosening from Levi's wrist.

Levi kneeled back on his haunches, feeling suddenly very drained and weary.

"What did you use?"

"A mild form of chloroform, made from pond algae. Knocks you right out."

Levi sighed, looking down into the now peaceful face Eren held.

"Remind me never to piss you off." He stated, scooping Eren up into his arms to take him back to the castle, and even though the strain of the situation was still in the air, Hanji let out a quiet cackle.

She watched Levi's retreating back, arms cradling humanity's weapon that appeared to respond only to him and him alone,

"Oh no, my dear Levi, remind me never to piss _you_ off."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Did a little research on Chloroform and to see if they could have it in AoT based on the Era's progression and supplies. Turns out most likely they could! One of the major factors of it's compounds are founded by pond algae, and it's variants :D Give Hanji some artistic license and some afternoons spent knee-deep in some lakes a voila! Lethal scientist.
> 
> Wanted hell to break loose in this chapter a little, did anyone spot the hint as to what was coming earlier in the chapter? :
> 
> "They settled down, perching on the lip of the well and staring out into the distance. They shared a comfortable silence for a while, both feeling no need to fill the peace with incessant chatter. **Eren picked at the rough stone of the well, watching as little chunks broke loose and fell to the grass** , tiny dust plumes stirring in the wind.
> 
> Half an hour passed before Eren spoke, “I hope today we have a breakthrough.”
> 
> No??? Just me then?? /Cackles
> 
> Please comment and Kudos and all those lovelies! I want to thank the people who have right down to the bottom of my squishy toes and back <33.


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